A True Devil on the high seas
by Zrocker119
Summary: After spending nearly a decade in the underworld, the youngest son of Sparda accidentally stumbles his way out. "Pirates, Marines and Devil Fruits!...Sounds like the makings of a party!" Rated M for blood, violence and sheer badassery.
1. Chapter 1

**Zrocker119: With DMC 5 coming out early next year, my love for the franchise has been rekindled so be prepared for a slue of stories involving Dante and friends(but mostly Dante as he's my favorite video game character alongside Doomguy/slayer). If you couldn't tell from the title and the description, Dante has somehow found his way into the world of One Piece.**

 **And before people ask, no...this will not be a story of how Dante ends up sleeping with most of the female character from the anime. This story is about how Dante will meet and join the Straw hat Pirates in an effort to find a way home...along with having one hell of a party along the way.**

 **One last thing before we get started. Anything that takes after ending of DMC 2 will have no effect on this story. So the whole Nero losing his arm doesn't happen. Dante is still in hell to hold back to hordes of demons while everyone else moved on with their lives.**

 **Now prepare yourselves One Piece...for you are about to play host to the most badass and stylish devil slayer and he doesn't care about your rules.**

 **-A True Devil on the high seas-**

 **-Start-**

"Hmm, now that I think about it," a lone figure spoke to no one but himself as he lied on the cold, hard ground. "I never really took the time to appreciate all the good, little things back home...like the sky."

The man appeared to be in his mid to late thirties with white hair that was somewhat parted with the bangs brushed down and had a bit of stubble on his chin. His choice of clothing was nearly as outlandish as his hair color. He wore red pants that are nearly covered by black leather motorcycle chaps that have a brown, cowboy boot design around the ankles and sported black, loafer looking boots. His pants were also wrapped with a black belt featuring a silver emblem decorated with a demonic skull.

As for his upper body wore a black, zipped up undershirt with three clasps closed together with ornate, golden buckles, and medium length sleeves that went past his shoulders. This undershirt was also zipped up to just below his neck, and featured an upturned collar.

Out of all of the man's threads though, it was his coat that was the most eye catching. It was two tailed with both western and Italian features and had a deep red, almost crimson color. It was short sleeved, with numerous gold colored studs that decorated the shoulders, collar, and chest, and possessed a single zipper on the front. To complete his look he sported a pair of black gloves that left his knuckles and index fingers exposed.

This man is Dante, the youngest of the twin sons the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda. The man that had taken on entire hordes demon and devils, defeated and sealed away the demon empire Mundus and ultimately surpassed his father...but was now stuck in hell with no way out.

And he didn't like hell for there was no pizza.

.

.

.

or strawberry sundays.

.

.

.

or beer.

.

.

.

He had been stuck in this place for several years and just now came to realize why it was truly hell. It's enough to make a grown man cry.

With this revelation in mind, Dante continued to stared into the cloud covered, blood red sky for a few moments longer before letting out a yawn. "Well," He crossed one leg over the other and folded his hands behind his head, using them as an improvised pillow. "Might as well and try to couple Z's before any more demons show up for a fight."

Once upon a time the prospect of fighting powerful demons and devils would've exited the half breed, but anything would get boring after nearly a decade of doing it non-stop. Plus he just liked to take a good nap every once in a while. It's one of the few things that kept him from going insane.

Unfortunately for Dante it would seem that his wish wasn't meant to be, for as he was about to close his eyes, he felt the ground beneath him shake periodically every couple seconds or so. That would be the tell tale sign of something massive moving about nearby and judging from how the tremors were growing more and more frequent, it was closing in on his position.

Despite all of the signs though, Dante remained rooted to his spot. Until whatever in was actively attacked him he was content with letting it continue on its merry way. Whatever it was, it continued to grow closer and closer until he felt something crash into the ground right beside his head.

With a sigh, the white haired devil hunter cracked open a single eye to see a monstrous figure looming over him. The demon was humanoid in shape, easily four to five times his height with a slightly feminine figure that was covered in a mixture of scale and carapace-like armor.

It's legs reminded him of that of a T-rex that ended with a double digit foot with razor sharp claws. It had four arms in total, two of which were small while the main pair were proportional to the rest of its body and had some wicked scythe-like blades protruding from the elbows. A long tail that was lined with spikes waves lazily behind it in an almost harmless gesture, but the half breed could easily see himself getting impaled by it.

More spikes protruded from its back with four being much larger than the rest. Lastly its head was something that truly fit that of a demon, what with its glowing orange eyes, toothy maw, slilted nose and large head crest. This thing could almost be considered the textbook definition of a devil, but alas...it was missing wings.

This was an opinion that Dante couldn't stop himself from vocalizing. "Wow, throw some wings on you and you'd definitely take first place for edgiest demon!"

A puff of smoke left its nose as it snorted before it brought foot down on top of him. Rather than a splatter of blood, nothing but rock was found beneath its heel.

"You know what," The demon turned to find that the son of Sparda had situated himself amongst the many spikes on its back, standing upon one whilst leaning casually against another, "If someone were to ask me what I think would happen if a facehugger impregnating a demon, you're about what I'd imagine."

"I see that the rumors of your wit were no exaggeration," The demon spoke, its booming voice echoed throughout the area.

"Ah," Dante exclaimed as he dropped to ground level and began dusting himself off, "So I see that you've heard of me."

"It would be foolish for me not to have," Spoke the demon, "Especially after you defeated not just Mundus, but Argosax as well. Information is paramount when it comes to knowing your enemy."

After a series of stretches to avoid cramps later on, Dante extended his hand. From the nearby stone of which it was stabbed into, his trusty blade Rebellion flew into his awaiting palm. After a couple test strokes to rid it of any fragments of dust, Dante rested the blade on his shoulder.

"Whelp, anything else you would like to get off your chest before we get this party started?"

Dante quirked a brow when the demon raised one hand in a placating manor. "Stay your blade, son of Sparda. I have no quarrel with you as of this moment. On the contrary I must offer you my gratitude." With his other palm he summoned forth a flame that was all too familiar to the devil slayer. "I had been plotting for centuries to release Argosax so that I could kill and take his power for myself, but it would seem that all of my preparations were for naught."

"Thanks to you," The demon spoke as the flame disappeared, "I now have more than enough power to stake my claim for the throne of the underworld, and my Realm of Terror will encompass all that of hell itself."

"I see,"' Dante began pacing, lightly bouncing his sword on his shoulder. "Well, since I helped you out and all do I at least get to know who I'm talking to."

The demon stood straighter, arms held out and tail flowing behind it, "I am Diablo, Lord of Terror, Survivor of the Dark Exile, and The Prime Evil!" As the demon lord spoke lightning dance in the air, the ground erupted into great gouts of flame, transforming the already barren terrain into a hellish visage that one would expect.

Dante allowed himself to whilst in appreciation of the spectacle before him. "Nice light show, really stacks on well with all of the edge you've got going for you." Tightening the his grip on his sword, the devil hunter spun on his heels and swung, creating a mighty gust of wind that extinguished all of the nearby flames.

"But I can't really have you causing a ruckus down here, now can I?"

Diablo reeled in his power, and spoke in a warning tone. "I would be careful, son of Sparda. For I am one of the last remaining Demon Lords that are capable," He drew a single finger downward, creating a tear in the air, "of sending you home."

His interest piqued, the white haired man approached the warp in reality and took a peek inside. Sure enough, he could see humans walking about on the other end, seemingly unaware of the portal. "And what would I have to do for me to go home?"

"Simple step through the portal...and never return," Diablo stepped around so that he now stood behind the half breed. He leaned down so that he could whisper into the man's ear. "Hell is a place only for demons. Humans and half-breeds such as yourself simply don't belong here and should never set foot upon these plains."

With another wave of the demons hand, the image within the portal changed. Instead of the bustling city street from before, Dante took in the familiar interior of his shop. The place hadn't changed a bit, from his desk to his jukebox, even the pool table was still there. He could see the form of his nephew Nero seated in his old chair, now in his late twenties and looked very similar to how Dante did at that age.

What wasn't the same though, was the small child that sat in Nero's lap. The boy couldn't have been any older than four, but it was definitely a child of Sparda, with their trademark white hair and blue eyes.

From off to the side came in a woman that Dante recognized as that Kyrie girl and she too was holding a child that was only a few months old and a girl if the pink blanket that it was bundled up with was anything to go by.

The door to the shop swung open and in came the rest of his old group. Lady, Trish, Patty, who had grown into quite the beauty, and even Lucia. Everyone that Dante had bumped into throughout his life was there.

"They haven't given up hope. All that you see gathered eagerly await for your return," The demon spoke once more, "and all that separates you from them...is but a few small steps."

"I like what your selling," The longing in Dante's voice evident, "And I truly wish to be there with them."

CLICK

While Diablo had been trying to coax the man into the portal, the devil hunter had drawn one of his trusty pistols, Ebony and had it positioned right beneath the demon lords chin.

"But I'm gonna have to deny the offer!" and pulled the trigger.

BANG

The demon lord was able avoid a bullet to the brain, but roared in pain as the large horn on the left side of his crest had a significant chunk missing from it.

"You've made a grave mistake, Son of Sparda!" With a roar Diablo had resummond his powers, bathing the land in a grey hue.

"Oh I make mistakes all the time," With a spin and flick of the wrist, Dante had brought Rebellion to bare and poised for the upcoming fight. "Let's find out if this one turns out any different."

The devil hunter blurred forward with a Stinger, kicking up a cloud of dirt as he moved. Diablo brought his bladed arm to block the blow, halting the hunters advance, or so it seemed.

Right before the attacks could connect, Dante sprung into the air with a front vault, bypassed the arm completely and came down with a Helm Breaker, scoring a cut deep into the demon's chest.

As he dropped one of Diablo's smaller arms managed to catch him by the ankle and slammed him to the ground. The strength behind the blow was enough to make him bounce several feet into the air, where the Lord of Terror's tail lashed out.

With a thunderous crack that rendered many of his ribs little more than dust, Dante flew several meters, skipping across the ground before flipping into a crouch. Rubbing his chest, Dante smirked as his dusted bones reformed. "Been awhile since I've been hit like that."

"I am far beyond any foe you've face," With a wave of his hand, Diablo sent a torrent of lighting and fire hurtling towards the half breed. The hunter merely sprinted forward at breakneck speed and weaved around the blast, and those that followed suit, closing the distance between them in seconds.

Once close enough Dante unleashed a Million Stab and Stinger combo on the demons legs, forcing it to take a knee. Diablo roared in pain and tried to smack him way with his tail once more, but the man knew better and easily back flipped over the attack, drawing Ivory as he did so and unloaded a hail of bullets.

They did little more than annoy him, but Diablo knew that those shots would eventually wear down his thick hide and start to do some serious damage. Acting quickly, the Lord of Terror gathered the power of storm and fire within himself before detonating it in an explosion that was more than strong enough to send the demon hunter flying.

With a quick application of his Trickster style, Dante teleported safely to the grown, causally dusting himself off as he paced back and forth while he let Diablo prepared his next attack. It had been awhile since he had a fight this good so he was going to enjoy it for all it was worth.

With another roar that shook the very air, several needles of light larger than himself fired down from the space above the demon. Dante placed his sword on his back and drew both or his hand cannons. With a slight skip and a hope he sprinted forward as he shot down every single one of needles that approached him.

Diablo suddenly lifted his palm skywards and demonic energy began to gather above him. In size it was barely larger than Dante, but he could feel the amount of raw power that was held within.

Holstering his pistols, he crouched low to the ground and leapt several meters into the air, jumping off several glyphs to gain even more height. Once at the peak of his jump, he twisted so that he was facing Diablo and created a glyph that he kicked off of to propel himself back down so fast that he was surrounded by a cone of air.

With a look of pure malice Diablo launched the dense orb of demonic energy at the slayer but even as the ball of destruction rapidly neared him, Dante never once lost the grin on his lips.

A split second before impact, Dante suddenly brought his arms up in a guard. A red barrier formed over his arms and halted the blast, seeming to dissipate into nothingness, but was actually absorbed into the devil slayer through the use of his Royalguard Style.

Without any loss of momentum, Dante closed the distance, pulled his right hand back and thrust it forward in a lethal palm strike to Diablo's chest, releasing all of the energy he had just previously taken.

The great demon could do little more than cough up a gratuitous amount of blood as his innards were turned into little more than slush, the ground beneath them shattering from the force alone.

Not quite finished, Dante kickflipped back, drew his guns and began peppering the devil, the recoil of the hand cannons propelling him backwards. Diablo was barely able to summon forth a wall of flames to protect himself from the slayers onslaught of demonic charged bullets.

Utilizing the precious seconds that the hastily crafted barrier provided him, Diablo was able to heal his grievous wounds. Rolling his shoulder Diablo burst through the flames, an act that caught the red clad man off guard. The demon grabbed him within his clawed grip, dragging him along the brimstone ground as they went.

The demon hurled the half breed forward where he crashed into a large boulder, becoming embedded in it. Dante started to wrench himself free, but Diablo's large fist crashed into him before he could make any progress. Diablo repeated the action again, and again, and again, driving the devil slayer further into the hard stone.

Dante's body spasmed with each impact, but after the eighth one or so he had had enough.

"RAH!," With a flash of red electricity, Dante transformed into a reptile/insectoid-like frame. His arms, legs and head now have spiky edges, there were now cracks on his chest, and his coat had changed into a pair of curled up semi-chiropteran wings with each dividing into three segments.

Dante had entered his Devil Trigger.

The force generated from the transformation was enough to force Diablo to backpedal, even destroying the boulder that Dante was getting pummeled into.

"Round two," Dante spoke, his voice now having a demonic echo to it. Reaching behind him, he drew Rebellion and rushed Diablo while he was still off balance, slicing off one of his smaller arms.

Diablo roared in agony and tried impaling the accursed Son of Sparda upon his tail, but Dante was easily able to dance around the barbed appendage. The Lord of Terror was rewarded for his efforts by half of his tail getting lopped off.

Now down half a tail and an arm, Diablo knew that he had made the same fatal mistake that his brethren had, and that was underestimating the half-breed. But unlike the other, he would not perish here, for he had one more trick up his metaphorical sleeve.

Lashing out with his foot, Diablo was able to launch the hunter several hundred meters away. Now with ample distance between them, Diablo used what little remained of his tail to create a portal behind him.

"Enjoy this little victory, Son of Sparda." Diablo spoke as he stepped into the portal. "When we next meet, I will find myself standing over your lifeless corpse."

Dante blinked as the Demon Lord fled, the portal quickly closing behind him. "Well screw that noise!" With that said Dante kicked forward, slipping through the remnants of the portal before it was completely sealed.

He found himself standing on a narrow path of brimstone, barely wide enough for his quarry to walk upon. Glancing around Dante saw nothing but an endless black void, before focusing on the retreating form of Diablo.

The Lord of Terror walked along the path between dimensions, cursing the name Sparda as he tried to heal his wounds. His missing limbs would return with time, but the blow to his pride would only be healed by the sight of the devil hunters mangled corpse.

So distracted by the thoughts of revenge, he failed to detect the approaching missile that was the target of his vengeance. Still in his Devil Trigger, Dante crashed into Diablo's back feet first with a double dropkick, launching both of them over the edge.

"Y-YOU FOOL!" Diablo raged as the duo fell from the path, "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DO-"

The demon's jaw was forcefully closed via Rebellion being shoved upwards threw his chin, the blade penetrating deep into his brain. The last thing he ever saw was Dante, now in human form, giving him a two finger salute before pointing a heavily charged Ebony right at his face.

"Jackpot!"

BANG!

The great Diablo, Lord of Terror, exploded into thousand of shards, leaving behind only a black crystal that Dante held his hand out towards. The crystal drifted towards him and was absorbed into his chest.

Dante smirked, reactivated his Devil Trigger and flew back up to the path...tired to anyway. He quickly realized that he was still falling even though he had his wings out, even going so far as to literally flap them. It proved useless though as the path above him continued to grow smaller and smaller, before disappearing from his sight entirely.

"...Well this isn't good," Dante said as he continued to fall.

And so fall he did...further and further...and further.

The feeling of perpetual falling quickly grew dull for the veteran devil hunter, to he situated himself that the he was lying down, legs crossed and arms behind his head.

Minutes turned into hours and hours into days. Dante knew not how long he fell, only that it was too long as he actually fell asleep and awoke several times throughout the whole experience. It was while asleep though, that something finally happened.

Had he been awake, he would have seen an anomaly appear beneath him. Had he been awake, Dante would have seen the grey mist that enveloped him as he entered one of the randomly appearing exits to the dimensional gap. Had he been awake...he would've been treated to the sight of the seemingly endless blue ocean.

It was too bad he didn't wake up till he back flopped into said ocean at several hundred mile per hour.

* * *

Throughout his life Dante had been woken from his slumber in a various amount of ways. Had is seat kicked out from under him, a thick book slammed shut right beside his ear...hell, Lady had even pulled the pin on a live grenade and rolled it under him.

But Dante could proudly say that he had never awaken to being drown...at least until this very moment. His whole body stung something fierce as everyone of his bones had been completely obliterated and his organs ruptured.

He coughed up what had to be several liters of blood as his healing factor kicked in. Once he had feeling in his arms and legs, Dante began to swim to the surface. Due to the speed of his entry, he was several hundred feet from the surface and quickly running out of air.

Less than fifty feet way and the edges of his vision had begun to go dark. In an act of desperation Dante created a glyph and kicked off it, propelling him just enough for his upper body to breach the surface.

The devil hunter coughed violently as he expelled the water from his lungs and greedily took in several deep breaths of air. After a moment he settle down and allowed his natural buoyancy to keep himself afloat.

"Well," He said between breaths, "that was one hell of a wake up call." Taking a quick glance around, Dante sighed when he saw that he was surrounded by water for as far as his eyes could see. "At least I'm not falling any mor-"

The water around him erupted as an absolutely enormous set of jaws appeared from beneath him, the teeth alone being several times larger than himself. Without giving it much thought, Dante used Trickster to teleport into the air, above and well outside the mouth of the creature.

Speaking of which, now that he wasn't just floating in the water like a log, Dante could actually see what it was that had just tried to eat him and couldn't help but be blown away by what he saw.

The creature was ridiculously massive, as in the leviathan that he killed in his youth looked like minnow when compared to the absolute unit before him. It had the body structure of a serpent, but an Orca-like head and tail.

He was brought out of his musings by the creature rearing its head back and making another pass at him. Knowing what it was like to be swallowed whole, Dante quickly dashed to the side, drew his blade and slashed at it as it passed him by.

Landing upon it tail, Dante turned to find the creature merely glaring at him, the cut on its face not even worth registering. "What? Did you think that I would just let you eat me?" Great, he was talking to fish now.

Much to his surprise though, the sea creature let out a snort that sounded distinctly like a sigh before slowly slinking back beneath the blue waters.

"D-did a fish just understand me?" As if it had heard Dante question its intelligence, the sea king flicked it's tail, catapulting the devil hunter off into the distance.

"Oh come on!" Dante shouted as he found himself flying through the air yet again, for the upteenth time. Not even bothering to fight it, Dante merely crossed his arms and allowed himself to keep going. He would land back in the water eventually and if he was lucky, he would be closer to land.

It wouldn't be anywhere he recognized though. The appearance of that sea creature was more than enough to clue him in on the fact that this wasn't his home. He wasn't too worried though, he had just spent the better part of a decade in literal hell. He was more than confident enough in his ability to handle whatever this world could throw at him.

.

.

.

Like that boat that he was rapidly approaching for instance. Smirking, Dante angled himself so that he was now diving towards the water at an angle. At the last moment he flipped himself so that his boots would touch first and ski across the water like a badass.

Too bad he misjudged his approach and ended up skipping across the water like a poorly tossed stone, sliding the last dozen meters before he finally crashed into the side of the boat like something straight out of a children's cartoon.

With a groan, Dante reached up, gripped the railing and hoisted himself up and over, collapsing onto the deck of the ship in the least elegant way possible. He took a deep breath but found that his nose wasn't working like it should. Feeling it, he found that it was turned to the side.

With a sigh he grabbed and snapped it back into place, his healing factor kicking in the moment it was straightened out. With that taken care of and now out of the water, he looked up to find himself being stared down by a girl.

Correction, a young woman.

She was about average when it came to her height and had a slim, and if Dante was to be honest, a rather curvaceous figure. Her hair was short that had a particularly curled strand over to the left side of her face that almost came down to her brown eyes.

Also, her hair was orange...this girl had orange hair, and Dante could tell that it wasn't died in anyway but was completely natural. He shouldn't be one to talk with him having stark white hair since birth, but at least his wasn't orange.

She wore a simple white, short sleeved shirt with bold, blue lines on the chest and near the bottom edge. Her skirt was orange as well and dangerously short, with two rings on each side. Lastly she wore a pair of high heels that gave her some extra height, but if Dante were to stand, she would still have to tilt her head up to look him in the eyes.

He noted that her hands were situated close to set of three wooden poles that seemed to lock together to form a bo staff. Deciding that now would be a good time to speak, Dante quickly, yet smoothly got to his feet, gave himself a pat down and leaned back to rest his elbows against the railing.

"Permission to come aboard?"

 **-End-**


	2. Chapter 2

**Zrocker119: What's up everyone!? As you can see, I'm back with another chapter. I can't tell you all how happy it makes me to see just how many people are enjoying this story and that was with only one chapter. I hope I can live up to your expectations. Before we get on with the story though there is are some things that I would like to address, and those are as follows.**

 **1.) Dante's strength and abilities: For those that don't know much about him, know that as of DMC4 he is considered the most powerful being in the franchise, even more so than his father, the legendary dark knight Sparda who single-handedly took on the underworld and won. He has displayed feats of speed, strength and durability that can rival that of multiple One Piece characters. If you want further details then I recommend reading his fandom wiki page, but know that it's pretty ridiculous how much shit this guy had been through and survived.**

 **Just know that I will not be nerfing Dante for this story, not intentionally anyway, but that doesn't mean he will be OP from start to end cause that would be boring. He will kick ass, but he will also get his ass kicked.**

 **2.) Age: While we don't have an actual number for his age, we do know that Dante was in his late thirties in DMC4 and when I took a look at some chats and forums most fans agree that he either 37-38 years old as of DMC4. Since my story takes place 10 years after DMC2, which is after the events of DMC4, I've taken the liberty of making him 48 in this story.**

 **3.) Romance: I've already discussed this topic with one reviewer, but I'm just going to put a nail in this coffin. This is not going to be a romance focused story. I apologize if that came of as rude, but it was the easiest way of putting it. Now with that being said, I do plan I eventually pairing Dante with one of One Pieces lovely ladies. It's gonna be a slow burn, but it's one that I just find working out. Feel free to guess who it will be in a review, but please give me your thoughts on the story as well and not just a guess.**

 **Okay the longest AN I've ever done is now over and we can now get to the story.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **-A True Devil on the high seas-**

 **-Start-**

The last couple days had proven to be more difficult than Nami could've ever imagined. It was supposed to be as easy as it usually was. Get a couple of pirates to trust her, help them for a bit then rob them blind when they let their guard down. That was the way she had been doing since she was a young girl.

But Nami never imagined in her wildest dreams that she would grow attached to any of them. Especially when the captain of her latest victims was a childish ball of energy with a stomach that seemed to have no end, but also had surprising moments of wisdom, though those moments were few and far in between. But one of the things that made Luffy endearing was the unshakable faith he held toward his crew.

The whole lot of them were annoying beyond belief, but she couldn't stop the guilt that had settled in her stomach as she sailed away on their ship. The orangette sighed as she looked forward. She was only a few more hours or so away from the Conomi Island archipelago, which brought a slight smile to her face.

If she had done her math right, which it always was, then she had finally saved up enough money to buy her village back from Arlong. Once she presented him with the money, then her nightmare would finally be over. And maybe...maybe they'll let her rejoin the crew.

That thought was cut short though as what appeared to be splashing reached her ears. Less than a second later, the Going Merry shook as something slammed into the starboard side of the ship, the force of which was enough to causing the whole thing to shake.

After checking to see that she was still on course, Nami ran down the stairs to see just what the hell had hit her. As she made her way onto the deck, she saw a gloved hand grab the railing, followed shortly by a man pulling himself over, where he collapsed into a heap.

Given that he came from the same side that the impact came from, Nami was able to conclude that this man was what had rocked the entire ship. How he did so and was still alive she had now idea. With her luck as of late, this man would turn out to be another devil fruit user.

She watched silently as the stranger grabbed his nose and snapped it back into place. When his gaze focused on her, Nami slowly inched her hand closer to the collapsible staff on her waist, only to pause when the man stood, patted himself down and lean against the railing.

"Permission to come aboard?" He asked her with a playful smirk and twinkle in his blue eyes.

Now that he wasn't on the floor, Nami could now see just how tall he was, towering over her by more than a head and had broad shoulders. His clothes were also something of interest as it all seemed to be made of good quality leather. If those turned out to be his everyday clothes, then this guy had to be pretty loaded.

His facial features were youthful to the point that she would assume him to be in his late thirties, but his white hair threw her estimation off a bit. Lastly, Nami noted what appeared to be the handle of a sword sticking up over his right shoulder.

'With the way my luck this guy's a pirate as well.' Keeping one hand close to her weapon, Nami brought the other up to massage her forehead. "That depends, are you a pirate?"

The man seemed thrown off, like he wasn't expecting her to ask him that. Why that was she had no idea as it was a pretty common question. He cupped his chin in thought, pacing as he did so, "I've been called a lot of things throughout my life, but pirate's a new one."

Either this man was a really good liar, or he was speaking the truth. Nami rubbed her eyes, a sign of just how drained she was. Looking back to him the navigator was startled to find that the man had disappeared.

"Wow. Even from up here, I can't see land anywhere."

A quick look up and Nami had found her missing passenger. In the time she had her eyes closed, he had somehow managed to scale all the way up to the crow's nest. He stood along the edge of it, seemingly uncaring about the fifty-foot drop as he looked out across the open water.

"Get down from there!" Nami roared. To her surprise the man listened but rather than clime down the latter like a sane human being, he chose to let gravity do all the work and just straight up walked off the edge. He landed with nary a sound, hands in his pockets and uncaring smirk still present. Now wary of the man she pulled out her staff and held it in a threatening manner. "How'd you get up there, no wait better question, who are you and why are you here!?"

"I'm glad you asked." The man leapt into the air and, with a stylish flip, landed on the upper railing in a dramatic bow. "The names Dante. Mercenary, Private Investigator and Demonslayer extraordinaire." Upon his last title Dante whipped out Ebony and fired into the air for effect.

Nami just stared blankly at the man before her. Did she unknowingly slight some sort of deity or was she just cursed to always run into the crazy ones. "Well 'Demonslayer extraordinaire'," her sarcasm was practically dripping, "That answers who you are, but not why your here."

The pistol disappeared underneath his coat and Dante took a seat on the railing, "Landed in the water a ways in that direction and almost got eaten by a giant fish, whale, snake thing. It kind of flung me after I annoyed it and I crashed into the side of your ship. Not my best landing, but I would give it a 4 out of 10 at least."

Nami was almost afraid to of the answer but nonetheless she had to ask, "And from where did you fall into the ocean?"

"Oh a portal from hell. Big demon guy tried running from me, so I drop kicked him off the path, followed after and killed him. Didn't really think it all the way through but I think it all worked out in the end."

"...Oh my god this man's insane," Nami whispered under her breath, the beginnings of a headache coming on. "Well you might want to try and find a different boat. I'm nearing a place that's controlled by Fishmen, and they don't take too kindly to strangers."

"Oh," Dante said, seemingly ignoring her advice. In fact he looked more intrigued than anything. "I don't know what Fishmen are, but it sounds like it could be fun." The light in the woman's eyes took a dark turn, his last comment striking a nerve within her soul.

"Fun?" She all but growled as she stalked to the upper deck. Once she was next to him Nami grabbed Dante by his coat. "You think taking on Fishmen would be fun?! I've seen with my own eyes what Fishmen do to guys like you. They're ten times stronger than even the strongest human and show no remorse when it comes eliminating would be heroes!"

Seeing that he had gone a bit to far with his teasing, Dante gently pried her hand off of his person. "Be that as it may," He stood and fixed his coat, "I can't really go and hop onto another ship, unless you want me to swim that is?"

Nami forced down her anger down a bottled it back up. Stomping to the wheel she gave him an uncaring wave, "Fine, but don't come crying to me when you get killed."

Dante stared at her for a few moments as she steered the boat. The look in her eyes was one he knew all too well. It was the same he had for many of the years that followed the death of his mother. The burning hatred for all of demon kind, his father and his own blood included.

It was something he didn't work out until his climactic battle with his own brother and he could tell that this girl held similar emotional baggage. With a quiet sigh, Dante took a seat on the steps, but not before saying one more thing.

"You never gave me your name."

From the corner of his vision, Dante saw her tense up before she sighed.

"...My name's Nami."

"Nami," He thought for a moment. Resting his chin in his palm Dante smirked. "Not a bad name."

* * *

The rest of the trip was one of silence for the duo. Nami had stayed at the wheel to keep them on course, while the devilslayer had moved from the stairs to the main deck for more space as he began to do maintenance on his pistols.

Now he didn't really have to maintain Ebony and Ivory as all of the demonic energy he's poured into them over the yeas had turned them into pseudo devil arms, and thus kept them in a constant state of peak condition, but the task of doing it was just one of the many things Dante did to relax.

From her elevated position, Nami kept a close watch on Dante to make sure he didn't do anything worrisome, but her interest was peaked when he pulled out that strange pistol from before along with another that was identical in all but color. Having used a variety of pistols throughout her life as a thief, Nami knew her way around the easily concealable weapon. But his were unlike anything she had ever seen before. From their overall design to the way they disassembled, the two weapons were so alien to her.

Her gaze then turned to his sword that he had leaned up against the mast. It was a massive claymore with a heavy double-edged blade, notched on both sides near the tip. The pommel split open into several spikes. The grip was plain, but the guard was skeletal, with a skull-design on each side leading to the rib cage from which the blade emerges. One side of the blade had the skull of a human, while the other used a horned demon skull with the later of the two looked to be screaming. The crossguard matched the aesthetics of the crossguard and took on the form of bones.

'He must have a decent amount of strength in order to even hold that thing.' She mused as she continued to divide her attention between watching him and the sea.

As Dante finished assembling his pistols, he perked up before suddenly tossing the two firearms over his shoulder at her. The suddenness caught her by surprise and failed stop the squeak of fright that escaped from her mouth, but was able to catch them before they collided with her face.

"What the hell was that for!?" Nami roared, her teeth becoming comically sharp as she looked ready to bite his head off.

"Well after staring at them for so long, I figured you'd want to take a closer look." Dante said with a shrug, placing Rebellion on his back where it seemed to magically stick.

Nami chose to ignore the fact that she had been caught staring and turned her gaze downwards. Now that she was actually holding them, she found that the pistols were much larger and thus heavier than she originally thought. One was black while the white, though both had the the words "Ebony and Ivory", engraved into the inward-facing sides and had ergonomic wood grips which were inlaid with portraits of Victorian women.

Again, they were unlike any guns she had ever seen and despite their size, fit into her hands quite comfortably.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Asked Dante, who now stood beside her. "What were you expecting, a flintlock that takes forever to reload?"

"Well, yes." Dante's joking expression was wiped away by her answer. "I know that there are some pistols out there that can fire multiple shots, but nothing like this."

Dante took a moment to mull over this new information. So they still used flintlock style firearms here and any repeaters that they had were more than likely the really old fashioned as well. That would mean that his guns were a minimum, one century more advanced than anything they had seen before.

Man, if this was her reaction to Ebony and Ivory, then Dante couldn't wait to see the expression on everyone's face when he busted out Artemis or Pandora.

The sound of a click and something clattering to the floor brought him out of his thoughts. Dante glanced up to see that Nami had figured out how to eject the magazine.

"Hey, easy with that." He said as he swiped it from the ground. "I've only got one for each of them, so try not to drop them."

"Sorry," She said, now looking at the inside. "I tried firing it off to the side, but it wouldn't work. So I pressed the little button here and that fell out. What is it anyway?"

Dante gave the orangette a blank stare. "...That's because the safeties are on." And judging by the blank look he received, they didn't have those either. "Also, this," He gave the magazine between his fingers a little shake, "is the clip. It's where the ammo is held." He thumbed out one of the bullets and traded it her for his guns back.

"Never seen a bullet with this kind of shape." Nami spoke, looking over every little detail.

"Not surprised," Dante mumbled as he checked the magic seals that he carved into the side of the magazine. Good, the fall didn't seem to damage any of them. Those had been a pain to research and develop but it was well worth never having to reload his babies.

Holstering his prized guns, Dante look out to the front of the ship and saw an island not too far off in the distance. "Is hat where we're heading?"

That seemed to snap Nami out of her thoughts. Absentmindedly pocketing the bullet, she resumed her post at the wheel. "Yep, that's home alright. When we get there, don't step off the ship. You'll only die if you do."

Whether or not Dante heard her warning was up for debate as he just stood quietly as the ship pulled into an unmanned dock. Securing the boat, Nami disappeared into the cabin and came back out a few minutes latter, having changed into a different set of clothes that allowed Dante to see that she had a tattoo on her shoulder.

"I don't care what you do with the boat," Nami spoke as she disembarked and began to walked down the path. "Just so long as you leave this place and never come back."

With those words spoken, the orangette walked away. Dante watched her retreating form until she disappeared around the bend. With her gone, Dante was alone yet again. Cupping his chin, he paced up and down the ship as he thought about what to do.

On one hand, he could follow the girls demands and leave the island or do the opposite and take a look around. Even a blind man could see that something was going on here and his inner detective was nagging at him to investigate. Dante glanced up and the wheel, hummed to himself and pulled out coin.

It wasn't his old double sided, as he had tossed it to Lucia right before he leapt into hell, but it would do until he got a suitable replacement. "Tails I leave," he thumbed the coin into the air, caught and slapped it to the back of his hand. He waited just a moment before finally moving his hand aside and revealed the results.

Dante smirked, pocketed the coin and jumped onto the path. "I could use a nice stroll anyway." A loud growl could be heard from his stomach. "And I could use some real food."

* * *

The island was a really nice change of pace from the hellscape that Dante had grown used to. The grass, trees and the little critters that inhabited it, every little bit of it brought a barely noticeable smile to the mans face.

He had walked quite a considerable distance when he came upon a peculiar sight. It was a village, or at least was one at some point. All the the building were upside down and he meant that in the literal sense. It was like someone came in, grabbed the bottom and flipped them all over so that the roofs were now the floors. Another thing to not was the large trench that was carved through the center of the town that encompassed the entire street.

Taking a knee, Dante took some dirt and let it fall slowly through the space between his fingers. "Something big came through here." His mind immediately went to demons, but banished that conclusion. Regardless of how long ago an event of this scale took place, there would forever be faint traces of infernal residue throughout the entire area. Since he couldn't detect even a hint of infernal energy though, Dante concluded that whatever had done this was natural to this world.

"Still," Dante walked forward, looking at all of the ruined homes. "This is really messed up." He investigated further, exploring many of the building but in the end had found no evidence of anyone still living here. There were signs of struggle and a few splatters of blood here and there, but nothing else that really stood out.

A gasp caused him to stop and turn around. From the house behind him, Dante saw a kid, dangling halfway out of the lower window. Upon noticing that he had been spotted, the kid lost his grip and fell the rest of the way down, landing smack on his bottom.

"Ow," The kid got to his feet, rubbing his now sore bottom.

"Kid, you alright?" The child froze and looked up to see the red clad stranger now right in front of him. Jumping in fright the kid reached behind him and drew the sword that had been sticking out of his bag.

"S-s-stay back, I'll use this." The kid demanded and waved the blade around in a threatening manner. Dante merely raised a brow before pinching the bladed weapon between his thumb and index finger as is passed through.

"Cool your jets there zippy," With a light tug, Dante relieved the kid of his weapon. Looking it over, he saw that it was just a regular old cutlass, something he pictured a pirate using. "Now, I'll give this back, but you have to promise not to start waving it around."

The child swallowed the lump in his throat, very much aware of the unfavorable situation that he was now in, but eventually nodded in the hopes that the stranger wouldn't hurt him. Smirking, Dante flipped the sword so that he held it by the blade and presented it to the kid, who was quick to take it back.

With the sword in his possession, the kid regained some confidence and spoke, "Who are you?"

"Me? I'm just a guy that's lost on the road of life." Dante joked as he looked around at the remnants of the town. "Mind telling me what happened to this joint?"

The devil hunter heard the kids knuckles pop as he clenched his fists. "One of us couldn't pay this months tribute, so Arlong had his monster destroy the town. My-my dad," tears started streaming down his face, "Arlong killed him for defending us! I need to avenge him!"

Dante was quiet for several seconds before asking, "You got a family kid?"

The child looked confused but answered nonetheless, "I-I have a mom-"

He was cut off due to Dante giving him a firm chop on the head. "Then stop with that talk of revenge. I've been through it all before and it isn't pretty." He bent down so that he could look the kid in the eye. "Don't go throwing your life away kid, not when you've got someone to go home to."

"B-but what about my dad," The kid asked as tears began to flood down his cheeks, looking more than a little lost and confused.

"I don't know why kid," Dante stood up straight and looked up to the sky, "But I've got a feeling that this Arlong guy is gonna get what's coming to him sooner than he thinks."

Using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away the tears, the kid looked up at him with hope brimming in his eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah, call it a gut feeling." Dante smirked and ruffled the kids hair a bit, "Better get home to your mother kid. She's probably worried about you."

"Right, thanks oldman." The kid shouted as he ran off, completely missing the twitch in Dante's eye.

"I'm only forty-eight," He muttered under his breath and let out a quiet sigh. At least the kid wasn't gonna try and get himself killed anytime soon. He turned around to leave, but stopped as he felt like someone was watching him.

A quick glance at his surroundings later and he spotted the culprit easily enough. It wasn't as if she wasn't even trying to hide as she was just leaning casually against one of the many upturned buildings.

The young woman was about average in height appeared to be in her late teens, maybe early twenties, with light blue hair and tanned skin. She wore a sleeveless shirt, blue trousers and sandals. The only other thing to note about her would be how heavily tattooed her arm and chest were. Oh and that she was very beautiful.

Dante walked strolled up to her, coming to a stop a few feet away and leaned against the wall as well. "Why hello there."

"We don't get many visitors around here." She didn't even bat an eye at his slightly flirtatious tone. "Most that do end up dead or wishing they never came."

Pushing off the wall Dante placed his hand on his hips and paced back and forth. A few moments pass before he spun around and pointed at her. "You are the second lady to tell me that today. Told me to take the boat we were on and leave."

The ladies eyes widened a bit. From the way he phrased that, it sounded like the lady that he spoke to earlier came here on purpose. And that could only be one person. "You arrived with Nami?"

He clapped his hands like she had just figured out the answer to a riddle. "Bingo. Do you know her?"

"She's my younger sister." That made Dante do a double take and give the lady another look over. Sure, not every siblings out there are gonna be twins like Virgil and himself, but most share at least some physical features.

"You two look almost nothing alike," He deadpanned.

The lady just smirked, "Adopted sisters, I'm Nojiko."

"Dante," The red clad devil hunter took an exaggerated bow. "Your sister was kind enough to leave me alone with no guide or directions toward the nearest town. So I've just been wandering around."

Nojiko shook her head at the man's antics. "Should've listened to her advice and left when she told you to. Now you might never get the chance to leave."

"Maybe so, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway because I have no idea how to sail a ship." Dante spoke with his fists on his hips and chest puffed out, sounding way too proud at his declaration. "...also I'm really hungry and there was no food on that boat." As if to add credence to that statement, his stomach chose that moment to growl.

Try as she might Nojiko could no longer contain her laughter and just let it out. The guy had character, she would give him that at least. Giving herself a moment to settled down, Nojiko wiped away a stray tear before speaking. "If Nami didn't kick you off her boat right away, then that means you can't be that bad. I can't give you much, but I've got some food back at home. Think of it as thank you for talking Chabo out of doing something stupid."

Dante was easily able to figure out that she was talking about the kid from a few minutes earlier. He shrugged, "It was no problem. Now then," He gave yet another bow and gestures in the direction he had been heading to earlier.

"After you."

* * *

About half an hour later Dante found himself seated within Nojiko's home. The devil slayer was currently alone as his hostess had gone outside to grab some tangerines from the orchard off to the side of the house. With his coat hanging on the back of his chair and Rebellion against a wall, Dante took a moment to look around and if he was to be honest, the place wasn't much to look at.

It was clear from the get go that Nojiko, and Nami by association, wasn't wealthy from the lack of luxury items. Just four walls, a roof and the necessities. At least it had the welcoming vibe going for it.

His gaze eventually fell the photo frame on the table. He picked it up to take a closer look. It showed a much younger Nami and Nojiko, couldn't have been any older than eight or nine with woman that appeared to be in her late twenties.

Judging from her fuchsia hair that was tied in a ponytail, grey eyes, and a rather unique hairstyle known as a chelsea hawk, Dante was able to discern that this was neither of the girls biological mother, but their adoptive mother. And Much like her children, she was very beautiful.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Dante carefully placed the frame back down at took his seat, and for once didn't put his feet on the table. He had manners, even though Lady a Trish swore that he didn't. The door opened and Nojiko walked in with a basket full of the promised fruit.

"Not much but at least it's something." Nojiko remarked as she place the basket on the table and took a seat. Plucking one of the orange fruits Dante quickly peeled and tossed a piece into his mouth. He savored the sweet flavor before finally swallowing. It may not have been strawberries, but damn if it wasn't tasty.

"That's the best fruit I've had in years," Dante smiled honestly.

"Glad you like it," Nojiko took one for herself. "So what do you plan to do now that you're probably trapped here with the rest of us?" She asked while tossing a piece of fruit into her mouth and began to chew.

"Was thinking of finding this Arlong guy and see what he's all about."

His nonchalant response threw Nojiko into a fit of coughs, nearly causing her to choke on her food. After making sure that she was no longer in danger of dying via food, the bluette stared at him like he had grown a second head.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" She roared, "Do you have a death wish or are you just that stupid."

Blinking owlishly, Dante waited until he finished chewing before speaking. "What? I've never met a Fishman before and I'm curious to see what they're all about."

"Looks like it's the former then," Nojiko groaned, rubbing eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Listen, you can't go to Arlong park." Dante barely managed to hold back a snicker at the name of the Fishmen HQ, but another glare from his hostess and he managed to hold his tongue. "Nami has spent the last eight years working her ass off and risking her life to free our town. She's so close and I don't need you screwing everything up."

"So please," Nojiko pleaded with him. "Don't get involved."

Dante could only stare at her, a gaze that she returned unblinking. After several moment of intense silence the white-haired man closed his eyes and sighed. Getting up he put his coat on and placed his sword on his back.

Without turning to face her he said, "If your sister is a close as you believe she is, then I won't get in her way."

"...Thank you."

Dante just nodded and moved to the door, but paused as he passed the table. Looking at her he gestured to the basket to which she just smirked and nodded. Now with her permission, Dante helped himself to one more tangerine before finally heading out the door, closing it behind him.

Nojiko let out a breath that she didn't know that she was holding. Sure the guy was nice enough and looked like he could take care of himself, but no human can stand up to Fishmen. It was just impossible. Their only hope for freedom rested solely on Nami's shoulders...and she hated that with every fiber of her being.

* * *

After making short work of the peel, Dante slowly munched on the sweet fruit while he thought about what he had learned so far. This Island and its inhabitants are currently being oppressed by a race of humanoid fish people and had been for almost a decade. Nami, the girl whose boat he hitched a ride on, was very near to completing some sort of goal that would free her home.

Judging from how adamant the sisters had been about not fighting their oppressors, Dante struck open rebellion from the board. Getting outside help was also not an option or they would've done it long ago. So that left the only other logical conclusion…ransom.

Nami had been given a price for the freedom of her home, has spent the better part of a decade working towards it and if her sister was to be believed, was near the agreed upon price.

"This is some mess you've found yourself in Dante." He said as he finished his snack, wiping the stray juice from his hands. A few moments pass before Dante pinches the bridge of his nose with a sigh. "I need to think on this." After quick look around, Dante was able to find a tree that offered plenty of shade and made himself comfortable beneath it.

Kicking back into a relaxed pose Dante glanced up at the sky. He knew what had to be done. This Arlong guy and the fishy boys needed to go, that wasn't up for debate. The question was how to go about achieving this. But he could think of a solution later. For now Dante was content with watching from afar and seeing how things played out.

But if things take a turn for the worst...then all gloves were off. This may not be his world, but the people that lived here were just as human as the people from his home, and the was more than enough for Dante.

"Better watch out Arlong." Dante smirked as he pointed towards the sun, his hand mimicking that of a gun. "Because I'm gonna be crashing this little party of yours."

But little did the veteran devilslayer know that he wouldn't be the only one that wanted in.

 **-End-**


	3. Chapter 3

**Zrocker119:** **Don't be expecting every chapter to come out this fast. I just had some more time to myself than usual, so I was able to nail this out really quick. It's a bit shorter than the others but it is what it is. Anyway enjoy.**

 **A True Devil on the High Seas**

 **-Start-**

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Dante awoke to the sight of a blue sky above him. Blinking a couple times in confusion it took a few moments before it all came back to him and smirked. It was gonna take awhile for him to get used to not being in hell anymore. Not that he would complain. Though his mood would improve infinity once he got some pizza.

Yawning, Dante rubbed the crust from his eyes and sat up. Judging from the position of the sun, he had only been asleep for a few hours, maybe less. Over all he would say that it was a good nap since he wasn't attacked by a lord of hell this time around.

His stretching ended prematurely when the sound of footsteps reached his ears. Judging from the amount of noise he was hearing, there are a lot of people and they were very close. As in right on the other side of his tree kind of close. Stealing a quick peek Dante was greeted by the sight of several dozens of men in matching uniforms, all of which looked to be armed with either swords or muskets.

Dante continued to observe them as they passed him by, seemingly oblivious to his existence. Once they passed by, he noticed the symbol on their backs and the word Marines printed in blue underneath it.

His eyes narrowed in suspicion when he noticed that they were heading in the same direction he had come from. And from what he knew, that their current path would take them to only one place, Nami and Nojiko's home. For some odd reason he couldn't stop a knot from forming in his stomach.

'If those guys are apart of some sort of military force, shouldn't they be heading towards Arlong and his crew to deal with them?' Now infinitely more curious, Dante decided to tail the group from a safe distance.

A few minutes later Dante stood on a small hill that gave him a good overview of Nami's home, but was far enough back to remain undetected. And people thought that he was incapable of stealth(cough) Lady and Trish(cough).

Anyway, while the distance between himself and the group of Marines that was confronting Nami would normally be too great for a normal human to glean any information from, Dante was anything but normal. With his devil genes, everything about him was enhanced, including eyesight and hearing, letting him eavesdrop with ease.

"Now to sit back and watch what happens."

* * *

"Hello," The mouse-looking Marine spoke as he stepped forward, "I'm Cpt. Nezumi of the Marines 16th branch...and we've come for you miss criminal."

Nami merely raised a brow at that statement. "Well I'm a pirate, so I guess that makes sense." She pushed off the post that she had been leaning against and crossed her arms under her chest. "But I happen to be an officer for the Arlong Pirates."

A smirk found its way to her lips, "So unless you want to piss off my captain, I would recommend not messing with me."

"Oh, I do believe that you are confused. We have no idea what you mean about you being a pirate." He placed a hand upon his hat, sending her a condescending smile. "We're simply here on the accounts of your thievery, and are here to collect everything that you have stolen over the course of the last several years."

Nami's face went pale with shock. "W-what did you say?" She had to have misheard him. There's no way they should know of her other than her connection to Arlong.

"It's quite simple really. Even though our information says you only steal from pirates, thieving is thieving and is thus a crime. Now we've come to return the stolen goods to their true owners."

Before Nami could even react several of the lowly grunts had shouldered past her and into her home and began to tear the place apart. The home that Nami's mother had raised her and Nojiko in.

"STOP IT!" Assembling her staff, Nami smacked the marine nearest to her into the dirt. "For years this island has waited for the Marines to free them from Arlong's rule, and when you do finally show up, you come to home of a petty thief!? What kind sick and twisted sense of justices is that!?"

"Chichichi!" The Cpt. laughed, "Criminals should speak like they know the law. Continue with the search!"

"Sir," A lone marine approached with a salute, "The house has been searched yet they are no signs of the stolen goods, but the orange fields look rather suspicious. Seems like someone dug through them recently."

Nezumi sneered, "Then dig them up. Search the entire area, leave no stone unturned!"

Nami quickly lashed out at any marine that dared to approach her mother's fields. "I won't let you bastards touch a single cent. That money-"

"THAT MONEY IS IMPORTANT TO THE SURVIVAL OF OUR VILLAGE!" Nami stopped what she was doing to turn to Genzo, who had been the one that led the Marines to her home and was silent up till this point. "WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT!?"

"H-how?" Nami barely managed to speak as she looked to her father figure.

The heavily scarred man merely tipped his hat to shield his eyes in shame. "...I've always known Nami...we've all known since shortly after you joined Arlong's crew."

"Oh," Nezumi listened to this revelation with interest. "So the whole town knew of this young ladies thievery and did absolutely nothing to stop it. Does this mean that I now have to arrest everyone else? This day just keeps getting better and better."

"It means that we've had no choice but to solve this problem ourselves!" Everyone turned to see that Nojiko had arrived as well, looking equally pissed as her sister. "SO UNLESS YOU'RE HERE TO DEAL WITH ARLONG, THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! Take too long and he'll have your ship destroyed before you can even get the chance to leave."

"Hmmm, I wonder about that." Nezumi said knowingly before turning to his crew, seeing that they were still searching for the bloody treasure. "What the hell it taking so long. This is 100 million berries were talking about! How many places could one lone girl store that much money!?"

For Nami it seemed like the world had frozen over as a chill crept down her spine. How could he have known about the exact amount of money she had stashed away? She never spoke of it to anyone except to her sister, and she wouldn't have ratted her out, let along to the Marines of all people. The only way it was possible was if Arlo-!

And just like that, everything clicked into place and Nami's anger soared to new heights. "WAS THIS ALL ARLONG'S IDEA!?"

The marine captain just smiled evilly at them all, "Careful girl. To accuse us marines of working with pirates is quite the offence. One that comes with a hefty punishment."

"Y-YOU CORRUPT BASTARDS!" Genzo roared, him and Nojiko moving to stand beside Nami. The orangette meanwhile found herself biting her lip in pure rage at the revelation of Arlong's betrayal, and right after all that talk of always honoring deals that involved money!

Having had enough of this, Nezumi signaled his men to line up with their rifles loaded and at the ready. "These people are directly interfering with the requisition of stolen good, deal with them."

"Yes sir!"

The marines took aim and fired.

There was a slight breeze...and the three were completely fine.

"Well I've seen enough." Came a voice, one that only the sisters recognized.

Everyone present glanced up to see Dante, now seated on the roof of the house, one leg laid across the other with his head resting on his palm.

"D-Dante/You?" Nojiko and Nami questioned respectively, wondering how the red themed man ended up on their roof. Nami then looked at her sister, confusion apparent at how she knew the man.

"Me," Dante responded with a carefree smile. Shifting his gaze to the Marines, Dante held up his unoccupied fist. Relaxing his grip, several round objects fell from his hand. Everyone's eyes widened when they realized that those objects were the bullets that had just been fired at the trio.

'But how did-when did he!?' That was the thought that passed through everyone's mind at that moment.

While they were still trying to process how he managed to do what he had done, Dante dropped from his perch and walked until he stood in front Nami, Nojiko, and scar face, placing himself between them and the marines.

"Now I've dealt with corrupt cops before but you sir," Dante pointed a finger at the mousie captain, "You take the cake."

Having none of this Nezumi ordered his men to fire again saying that it was just a trick. Choosing to believe in their captains words, the firing squad fired another volley of lead, an action that had put many a pirate into the ground.

But for one such as the youngest son of Sparda, who was used to dodging attacks that moved at much faster speeds, the bullets from the primitive rifles may as well have been moving through syrup. With movements that no one but himself could track, Dante waved his hand in front of him, something that was barely more than a blur for the others, and caught every bullet between his fingers.

While the marines looked on with gobsmacked expressions, the devil slayer laid the bullets in a line on the ground, drew his sword, and then used the very tip of his blade to launch the balls of lead back into the barrels from which they came.

Upon reentry the rifles exploded, causing the marines to drop the now useless weapons before they were seriously injured from shrapnel. Turning to their captain for orders, the grunts hadn't the slightest idea of how to deal with the new threat that had appeared from literally nowhere.

Nezumi meanwhile looked ready to soil his trousers as he looked at the man, no monster before him. 'T-this man isn't human!' Biting his lip he was able to speak but it was with barely concealed fear, "Don't just stand there! Draw your swords and att-"

"Clean through or souvenir?" The marine captain paused to look at the white-haired man in confusion.

"What?"

"Ah Souvenir it is then." Before anyone could blink, Dante had drawn Ebony and fired a single shot into Nezumi's shoulder.

"Gaaaaaaahhhhh!" The Captain cried in agony as he dropped to the ground, his shoulder bleeding from the bullet currently lodged deep in the bone.

CLICK!

The marines turned to see that Dante had drawn the black pistols twin and now had both zeroed in on them. "You guys like to dance?" Not waiting for a response, Dante unleashed an unprecedented amount lead at their feet, missing on purpose as the marines started hopping about to avoid a similar fate to their captain.

After a solid minute of sustained gunfire, Dante engaged the safeties and holstered his guns. "Now take your pathetic excuse of a captain," he stomped his foot hard enough to crater the ground beneath it, "AND SCRAM!"

Reeling back with a frightful scream, the Marines quickly got the hell out of there, nearly forgetting their still bleeding superior in the process.

"I-I'll see you executed for this!" Roared Nezumi, trying to regain some form of superiority while being carried away. "I'll make sure the wrath of the marines comes down and crushes you into a bloody pulp!"

Rather than being frightened like he intended, the man in red placed his sword on his back and gave him a mocking two finger salute along with a smirk.

"Well they were pleasant," joked Dante once they were out of sight. Turning to the others he found them staring at him in with expressions of pure shock. "You guys alright?"

"H-how-h-how did you do that!?" Nami managed to stutter out. She had seen Luffy do crazy thing in the short amount of time she had traveled with him but that was all do to him having eaten a devil fruit. Did Dante eat one as well? Or was he just a monstrously skilled human like Zoro.

"What that?" Dante just gave them a shrug, "That was nothing. You should've been there the first time I fought my nephew. Got impaled and everything. Now that was a fun fight!"

Her brain having thoroughly scrambled by this point, Nami felt a wave of dizziness hit her and dropped to her knees. Ignoring the worried looks sent by Nojiko and Genzo, she focused solely on Dante, "I don't know how you knew what was going on...but thank you."

"How did you know to show up?" Nojiko asked wearily, both glad and suspicious of the man's timely intervention. His timing had been perfect, almost too perfect.

This was something that Dante was able to pick up on. "...Really?" He asked, "Didn't I already tell you Nami? Of all my titles, private detective was one of them. Did you really think, with all of the clues you and your sister gave me, that I wouldn't be able to piece together what's going on?"

He jerked a thumb in the direction of the partially dug up garden where the stash of treasure was just barely visible. "It was childsplay for me to figure out that you were collecting money for a ransom."

"But how did you know to come," Genzo finally asked the question that was on their minds. He didn't know who this stranger was, but the girls obviously did so he would trust their judgment...for now anyway.

"Oh I saw them as they passed the spot where I took a nap. Had a gut feeling that something was going to go down so I listened in from the hill over there." The three turned to said hill and nearly bugged out when they realized just how far away it was from the house.

"Did you eat a devil fruit?" Nami blurted out before she could stop herself.

"...The devils what?"

"Devil fruit." Nami repeated. "You eat a weird looking fruit and gain incredible power but forever lose the ability to swim."

Dante merely rose a brow. If he hadn't dealt with hellish fiends and demons all of his life, he would've asked if she had smoked any strange plants lately. But given the amount of weird things he has seen and heard since arriving in this world, he was just going to accept the existence of these "devil fruits" as the norm.

"Nope, never heard of them."

"Then how did you listen in from that distance."

"I have really good eyesight and hearing." That earned Dante blank stares from the trio. Giving an obviously fake cough he gestured to Nami. "We should probably get that hand of yours looked at."

Nami seemed confused until she looked at her bandaged hand, now red with blood. She had been so caught up in what was going on that she hadn't even noticed that her self inflicted wound from before had reopened and now bled through the bandages.

"Lets get her to town and have Nako take a look at that." Not really in the mood to argue, Nami didn't fight as Genzo helped her up and started escorting her to town.

As they were about to leave the property though she looked back to the orchard. "What about the treasure?"

"Leave it," Genzo ordered without hesitation. "It clear to us now that Arlong never intended to go through with his end of the deal. You're just too important for his goal of conquering the East blue to just let go."

Nojiko folded her arms beneath her chest and frowned, "What option does that leave us with then. The Marines obviously can't be trus-"

"Then fight back," Dante stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That's literally the only choice left for you."

"We know," Genzo spoke calmly as they entered into the village, but everyone could hear the rage that boiled beneath. As they moved on, they noticed that the whole town had gathered around the center fountain. "We've waited and hoped that this nightmare would end, but now we have not choice!"

"Genzo," Nako, the villages only doctor spoke as he approached the group. "The Marines passed through a few minutes ago, carrying their Captain who looked injured. Did something happened?"

"ARLONG HAS GONE AGAINST THE BARGAIN!" Genzo's accusation sent waves through the villagers. "He sent those Marines to confiscate all of the money that Nami has spent the last eight years collecting...and they would have succeeded if it weren't for this man here." He pointed to Dante who just leaned against a nearby building.

"ARM YOURSELVES!" Genzo ordered, "Anything will do! The time for us to fight for our freedom has come!"

"STOP!" A voice cried out. Everyone turned to see that Nami had place herself between them and Arlong Park, brandishing a dagger at them. "I-I can't let you go through with this. I have the money," tears streamed down her cheeks, "Just let me deliver it and this can all finally be over."

Genzo walked forward until he stood right in front of her. The stared at each other for several tense moment before Genzo pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry Nami. For so long we let the burden of saving our home rest solely on your shoulders."

Her grip on the dagger loosened, allowing it to clatter to the ground. "But it's time for you to rest...and let us fight for ourselves."

"You'll all die though." She said weakly, no longer having the strength to so much as stand up, but remained so do to Genzo's hold on her. "Arlong and his crew are too strong."

"We know," Genzo pulled back, allowing her to see the cold determination in his eyes. Letting her go he took hold of a sword that was passed to him, "But it's our choice to make." He turned to the crowd and raised his blade. "WE KNOW THAT DEATH IS ALL BUT GUARANTEED, BUT LET'S SHOW THEM OUR SPIRIT!"

Those gathered let out a roar of agreement and rushed forward. With nothing keeping her up Nami fell to her knees.

"Run Nami," Nojiko spoke, placing a hand on her shoulder as she passed. "Get to the boat you arrived on and put as much distance between you and this place as possible. Fulfill your dream!" With those words, Nojiko ran to join catch up with the rest of the town.

Nami was now truly alone.

With a shaky hand Nami gripped the shoulder so hard that her nails drew blood. Everyone she loved and cared about was going to die, and she couldn't do anything to stop them. Her gaze slowly shifted to the tattoo that marred the skin on her shoulder as the past eight years of her life flashed before her eyes. All of the struggle and hardship that she had endured, all ruined due to one monsters greed and lust for dominance.

It was too much for her. "ARLONG!" With a cry of rage, Nami grabbed her fallen dagger and began to repeatedly stab the symbol of her imprisonment. "ARLONG!" She didn't care of what the action did to her, so long as this damn thing was no longer there! Her shoulder was nearly cut to the bone when a hand caught her by the wrist in a firm grip.

When Dante realized what Nami was doing to herself he was a split second from intervening, but stopped when someone beat him to it. The kid looked around Nami's age and was only slightly taller than her. He had short, messy black hair and dark eyes. He wore short, blue trousers with cuffs, sandals, a sleeveless red vest and a straw hat. The last thing Dante noted about him was the scar beneath his left eye.

"Luffy...what is it!?" Nami tossed her weapon aside as she vented her anger out on the kid, "You don't even know the first thing about me or what's even going on!"

"Your right." The kid, apparently named Luffy, agreed with no argument whatsoever. "I don't know anything." Dante rose a brow at that. This wasn't exactly the best pep talk he had ever heard.

"Why are you still here? This has nothing to do with you!" Straw Hat's expression remained blank even as dirt was thrown at him by the distraught woman. "Didn't I already tell you to leave this island!?"

"Yep, you did."

"...Luffy..." Nami turned to looked the boy who's trust she had betrayed in the eye. Her tears were impossible to hold back and fell without restraint. "Please help me..."

The rim of the hat concealed Luffy's eyes with shadows, making it impossible for her, or Dante for that matter, to tell what was going through his head. The devil slayer though quirked a brow when Luffy took off his hat and placed it on Nami's head.

Dante didn't understand the importance behind the gesture, but Nami seemed to as her eyes widened in shock. She sat in stunned silence as Luffy stood with his back to her.

"OF COURSE I WILL!" Luffy shouted, his fists raised to the sky. Walking forward he passed the rest of his crew, who Dante hadn't even noticed till now, and gave them a single order.

"Let's go."

Dante watched as the guy with green hair and katana stood up with his hand at the handle, the blonde take a drag of his cigarette, and the one with the long nose adjust his goggles. All three turned towards Straw Hat and said as one.

"Roger!"

Nami brought a hand to her mouth as the four of them marched off for her. 'E-even after everything I've done.' She didn't noticed the red themed devil hunter until he stood beside her.

"Dante..."

The son of sparda looked down at her. "Yeah?"

There was a moment of silence before she looked up at him with her tear stained face. "Please...please don't let any of them die." She pleaded.

With a smirk on his lips Dante began to follow after the others, the wind picking up to catch his coat with a dramatic flare.

"Like I would sit out on this party!"

Nami would later play it off as a trick caused by the heat and her emotional turmoil messing with her eyes, but she swore that as Dante walked away from her she saw his shadow take on a different shape. It wasn't anything that she recognized, but it was almost that of a humanoid demon.

.

.

.

 **-End-**


	4. Chapter 4

**Zrocker119:** **Holy shit, I wasn't expecting this story to become this popular within such a short period of time. It has already reached 150 favorites and about 170+ followers. Thank you all so much for showing your support for this story. To show my appreciation, I decided that what was two chapters would be one, hence this behemoth that I've posted.**

 **Anyway here you all go!**

 **-A True Devil on the High Seas-**

 **-Start-**

As the Straw Hat Pirates headed towards Arlong Park with purpose in their stride, Zoro stole a quick glance at the white haired stranger that was following a short distance behind them. It wasn't as if the man was trying to hide himself, walking in the open and down the center of the path and all, even going so far as to wave when he noticed Zoro's stare.

Luffy's first mate knew that he wasn't the only one to notice the strangers presence, but if his Captain wasn't going to make a big deal about it, then neither would he. Besides he was more than confident enough in his abilities to take the man out should he prove to be a threat. But that didn't stop Zoro from keeping an eye on him.

While the man's hair and choice of wear were more than than enough to warrant Zoro's attention it was the massive, double edged sword that clung to strangers back that truly caught his eye. Being a swordsman in mind, body and soul Zoro had an eye for high quality swords and the blade the stranger carried was unlike any that he had seen before.

The only one that came close being the very sword that Zoro now carried at his side, and he had a burning desire to test his steel against the man. Unfortunately his lust for a good duel would have to be put on hold for now as they drew closer to their destination.

As they neared the gates, the villagers made way for them, revealing the they weren't being allowed into the park due to Johnny and Yosaku barring their path. As the two bounty hunters uncrossed their blades, Luffy stepped forward with his fist reared back.

With a monstrous display of physical strength, Luffy's punched the reinforced doors clean off their hinges, launching them to the opposite side of the park, narrowly missing the multiple Fishmen that awaited behind the door.

"Which one of you is Arlong?" Questioned Luffy, a blank expression on his face as he strolled right on inside like he didn't just bust his way in.

Near the entrance of the building, seated in a large chair was large, muscular fishman with light blue skin and a very distinct, saw-shaped nose. The fishman turned his gaze to the boy with a board look. "Who the hell are you?"

"Are you Arlong?"

The man didn't so much as blink at his question going unanswered, "That would be my name, yes...and you are?"

"I'm Luffy, a pirate." Luffy continued to walked forward even as two Fishmen put themselves directly in his path. They went to speak but were silenced via Luffy grabbing them by the head and slamming them together, enticing shocked gasps from those spectating. For his part, Luffy just kept striding forward, now with an edge to his expression.

"What does a pirate want wi-" Faster than anyone could react, Luffy lashed out and punched Arlong in the cheek, sending his massive frame crashing into the outer wall.

"AGHHHH! ARLONG!?" His crew cried out in dismay.

The leader of the Fishmen merely raised his head, not all that hurt from the blow and glared daggers at the boy who met his gaze with equal intensity. "Do you have a death wish!?" He growled out.

"Don't you DARE," Luffy's eyes dilated as he allowed his anger to seep through, "make my navigator cry!"

"You bastard! How dare you!" The gathered Fishmen rushed the upstart, only to get beaten into the ground in a flurry of kicks and sword slashes. The rest of the young pirate's crew now standing alongside him.

"What the hell Captain," Sanji took a drag of his cigarette before letting out a lazy puff of smoke, "Trying to hog all of the glory for yourself. Save some for the rest of us."

"I-I don't really m-mind if he does," Usopp admitted with shaky legs, clearly out of his element, but still trying to put on a brave front.

Zoro had no problem with calling out the Sniper on his bluff, "Now aren't you being all gutsy."

One of Arlong's lieutenants, a ray Fishman by the name Kuroobi narrowed his eyes at the group, specifically the green-haired swordsman. "Roronoa Zoro."

"That's the guy!" Another Fishman exclaimed, this one being an octopus Fishman that had six arms. Hatchan pointed a finger at Zoro, very much upset at the man, "That's the one that tricked into thinking that he was a guest of Arlong's!"

Arlong, having pulled himself out of the wall by this point, glared at the four human's that dared break into his home. "Pirates huh? So...that's how your all related."

While all of this was going on, the gathered villagers could only watch with gobsmacked expression, with most of their jaws almost hitting the ground. "Who are these guys!? That shrimpy kid sent Arlong's massive frame flying with a single punch! No human can do that!"

Nojiko was on the same level as her fellow villagers. Other than her brief encounter of superhuman abilities that Dante had displayed earlier, she had never witnessed such a feat from a human. Can the kid even be considered human after doing something like that?

"Then you better hope that those four can defeat Arlong," Johnny spoke up. "Because if they fail…"

"Then the East Blue will have no future." Finished Yosaku. "If you wish to interfere, then you'll have to kill us to pass."

"Why," Genzo questioned, approaching the two strangers. "For what reason would you two go so far for this!?"

The two bounty hunters shared a smirk and spoke in perfect unison. "Because they made sister Nami cry. Is that not the best reason to risk our lives?"

"I mean I've put my life on the line for less."

Genzo, along with everyone else, turned to see that it had been Dante that spoke. "Hell, I jumped into literal hell on a bet!" The leather clad man strolled on up to the two bounty hunters and grabbed their swords by the edge, "Now if you'll excuse me," Much to Johnny and Yosaku's shock, the man easily forced their weapons to the side. "I've got a job to do."

"Wait just a minute," Johnny exclaimed as the devil hunter walked passed them, "This is their-"

"The lady asked me to make sure that they don't die," Dante cut him off, sparing a glance over his shoulder. "Nothing more...nothing less. So anything short of a kill shot, I won't lay a hand on the big baddies...maybe...I don't quite know yet. I'm just gonna go with the flow."

The two bounty hunters could only sweatdrop at the mans uncaring attitude to the situation that they were all in.

"SHAHAHA-HAHA!" Arlong roared in laughter, catching everyone's attention. "Just what did you think four measly humans could do to us!? Hatchan, do it!"

"Right away Arlong!" Holding his mouth, the octopus Fishman let out a bellow that wasn't to far off from that of a trumpets. Shortly after the call ended the nearby pool of water began to rise, as did the villagers fear.

"I-IT'S THE MONSTER THAT DESTROYED GOSA!" The panicked villagers started shaking where they stood as the water rose higher and higher, casting a shadow over the park.

"COME OUT MOHMOO!"

The water erupted revealing the monster from the deep...and Dante nearly lost it.

"I-is that a sea cow," The hunter asked with barely restrained laughter, jerking a thumb in the "beasts" direction. The creature truly looked like someone taken the head and pattern of a milk cow and slapped it on the body of a fish. The beast was quite large, but size was the only thing it had going for it. Other than that it was quite hilarious to look at.

Hatchan stared at his pet in confusion. Mohmoo looked like he had gotten in a fight. He was beaten and bruised and appeared to be shedding tears. "Huh…?" Was his intelligent response to his analysis.

The monster in question took a look at his owner, but froze upon seeing who stood just behind him. The blonde cook and the straw hat wearing boy, though said hat appeared to be absent.

"Oh," Luffy barely paid the sea king any mind, "it's you."

Sanji took a slow puff of his smoke, "So you were one of them all along."

"Moo…" Mohmoo bellowed pitifully before lowering back into the water, leaving just the top of his head visible, and turned right around and started to leave.

"M-MOHMOO WAIT," Hatchan ordered as his pet retreated for no apparent reason. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING!? MOHMOO!"

"Mohmoo," The sea king froze in its tracks when Arlong spoke in a deceptively calm voice. "Just what the hell-"

"HAHAHA-HAHA!"

Before Arlong could question the creature he was interrupted by the sounds of laughter

All attention was now on Dante who finally lost all forms of self restraint and just let it out. "I-I not even sorry," The devil hunter nearly doubled over in laughter, using one arm to hug his now aching stomach while pointing at Mohmoo with the other. "It's just that the big bad monster t-turned out to be a giant sea cow!"

While everyone stared in shock at the open mockery, Mohmoo felt a range of emotions pass through him as the white-haired human fell to his knees, now almost in tears. Fear and confusion were at the top...but they were soon cast aside as rage took hold. Now, Mohmoo may not be the smartest of sea creatures, but he was more than capable of understanding when he was being mocked.

And he didn't like it one bit.

"MMMMOOOOOOOOO!" With anger the likes of which that even the Fishmen hadn't seen from the sea king, Mohmoo lunged at the man, jaws wide open and teeth bared. Dante was too distracted by his laughter to even react before the beasts jaws enclosed him.

"D-DANTE!" Nojiko cried in horror as the man was swallowed whole, Genzo mirroring her expression.

Mohmoo turned towards the straw hat pirates, his anger allowing him to look past his fear at two of the members. He intended to swallow them just like he had done to the other human just now, when he felt something moving in his mouth.

Shaking his head, Mohmoo tried to make the feeling go away, but that only seemed to make things worse as whatever was moving doubled its efforts. Against the sea kings will, Mohmoo's jaws were pried apart.

"Phew, your breath stinks!" All those present could do nothing but drop their jaws in shock and awe as they witnessed Dante hold the sea kings mouth open with his bare hands and do it with what appeared to be little effort. Keeping one hand to hold the jaw open, the son of Sparda used his other to point at Hatchan. "You should try feeding him breath mint every once in awhile!"

Shouting the last word, Dante threw Mohmoo's massive jaw open as wide as they could go and jumped out. Before he could hit the ground, the devil hunter formed a glyph for a foothold and executed a perfect wheel kick to the center of Mohmoo's chest.

A concussive ring could be seen at the point of contact, a telling of the power behind the attack. Mohmoo didn't even have time to register the kick before his massive form was lifted out of the water and sent careening into the sky, the great sea king disappearing off into the horizon within moments.

Everyone, even the straw hats, openly gapped at the physical display of strength, one that completely blew Luffy's previous door and Arlong launching feats completely out of the water.

"MOHMOO!" Hatchan wailed as his precious pet, for all intensive purposes, seemingly soared into the sky.

"Ah god damn it," Dante spoke, gagging at his now saliva soaked coat. Despite the devil hunters best efforts though he failed to get it all off. "Great," Ignoring all of the eyes that were on him, Dante approached the waters edge, dunked in the article of clothing and started scrubbing like crazy.

"Is he seriously that worried about his coat," questioned Zoro as he looked around at everyone, wondering why they were just leaving the man to his own devices. Glancing over to his captain, the swordsman saw a familiar star struck gleam in his eyes and sighed.

"That was so cool!" Luffy shouted, literally bouncing over the to man's side, "Hey old guy, join my crew!"

"Sorry kid, maybe another time." The man said without a second thought as pulled his coat from the water and started wringing it out. "And my name isn't old guy, it's Dante."

"YOU BASTARD!" The duo turned around to see that the Fishmen had finally snapped out of their daze and were now charging at them, or more specifically at Dante.

"I know that this is your show and all," Dante spoke to Luffy, "but you mind if I take care of these small fries?"

Luffy shook his head no, giving the devil slayer a big, goofy smile, "Go ahead, I just came to fight Arlong."

"Alright then," Twirling his coat around Dante flung it in the air and placed a hand on the handle of his sword. "Hey long nose hold this for me!" Usopp leapt in fright as Dante's massive claymore suddenly embedded itself into the ground right in front of him.

Bouncing a bit to loosen up his muscles, Dante threw a couple of test jabs and kicks before beckoning the Fishmen forward in a taunting manner. "Come on."

The first to reach him slashed at him with a sword swing that was so badly telegraphed that Dante was able to easily dodged the attack, striking his attacker multiple times in the chest before punching him to the side.

Disarming the next one of his saber, Danted twirled the blade expertly between his fingers before gripping it by the handle and fending off several other attackers at once, taking each of them down with quick and decisive strikes.

"Wahoo!" Rushing forward, Dante slid on his knees, avoiding two other sword wielding Fishmen that were aiming to remove his head from his shoulders. The devil hunter slashed at their ankles, dropping them screaming to the ground and taking them out of the fight.

Seeing himself now surrounded, Dante did the only thing logical and began to spin in place, almost appearing to breakdance as he lashed out with a series of kicks that sent all surrounding Fishmen flying back. Maneuvering himself so that he now spun on his hand, Dante pushed off the ground, launching himself into the air and drawing his pistols.

"Time to make it rain!" Keeping up the momentum he had built up previously, Dante became a whirlwind of bullets as he spun in the air, spraying bullets in every direction though was somehow able to keep them from hitting Luffy's crew and the watching villagers, attacking only the surrounding Fishmen.

"W-what's with this guy," Usopp asked from behind the safety of the parks wall, having moved their since Dante threw the sword at him, both gobsmacked and terrified of the man's abilities.

"He's so cool!" Luffy was still star stuck as he watched Dante return to the ground, still spraying bullets like a madman while using one of Fishmen as an improvised surfboard. "I'm definitely getting him to join my crew!"

Zoro and Sanji didn't say anything but both were more than impressed by what they saw, the blond by his impeccable foot work and martial arts, while the green-haired sword wielder by his swordsmanship. Though in Zoro's case he was disappointed by the fact that the man wasn't using his own sword and instead chose to just pick them up as he moved along.

Meanwhile Dante had gotten board with body surfing and backflipped off the poor bastard and landed in a crouch. Holstering his guns, Dante stuck one arm in the air, just in time for his coat to slide over it.

Spinning around in a stylish almost dance-like motion, Dante finished putting on his prized coat and held out his hand, recalling Rebellion to him just in time to block the six blades that nearly cleaved him into pieces. He then raised a knee he counter a punch aimed at his kidney while simultaneously drawing Ebony to shoot the thin blast of water that would've pierced his skull.

Chew, Kuroobi and Hatchan were shocked beyond belief to see that their entire crew and pet sea king had been defeated by a single human and not only that, but said human had been able to negate their surprise attack completely.

"Now that was rude," With seemingly little amount effort put into it, Dante threw them all off him.

"Damn human," Roared Kuroobi who threw a punch at Dante's jaw, but only to have it countered by a kick. But it wasn't Dante, who just placed his sword on his back and smirked.

"This one's mine," Sanji now stood between the two, holding back the Fishman's strike with his outstretched leg. "He's clearly a cut above the rest of all this trash."

Dante, seeing green hair squaring off with octo-guy and that thick lipped bastard had taken off after longnose, merely raised his hands in surrender and took a couple steps back so that he was alongside Luffy. "I did agree to only take care of the small fries. You guys can handle the big fish."

"Good," Kuroobi was surprised when the blonde human was able to push his back fist back.

"I see. For a human you aren't that bad," Kuroobi was slightly impressed by the display of strength and slipped into a martial arts stance, "But you are nowhere near the level of us Fishmen. It would be foolish for you to refuse the red man's help as he is clearly the strongest amongst your crew."

"A fish telling a cook what he should and shouldn't do," Sanji said in disbelief and took a long drag from his cigarette. "Now I need to kick your ass on principal."

"Enough talk," Zoro had his sword drawn and charged Hatchan, "I'll end this in five seconds!"

Hatchan belly momentarily swelled up before expelling a torrent of black ink, one that Zoro dodged with little difficulty and slashed at the Fishman's head, but only clipped a couple of his hair spikes as he dropped at the last second.

"My hair!" Hatchan growled, clutching at the now blunt tips. "But I'll forgive you since it's only my hair!"

"Just shut up already," Zoro's breathing was labored and struggled to stay upright, something that Sanji noticed out of the corner of his vision. A distraction that nearly cost him as Kuroobi's elbow fin sliced through the spot that his throat used to occupy.

"Don't get distracted now!"

A tick mark appeared on Sanji's forehead and he retaliated with a kick that his opponent easily guarded against, "Stop telling me what to do fish."

From the sidelines Dante watched the two crew's do battle with interest. "Shouldn't you be helping them?" He asked Luffy, who was more interested in glaring daggers across the courtyard at Arlong than his struggling crew.

"They've got this," Luffy ceased in his glaring to shoot Dante a toothy smile, "My crew is strong. They won't lose to these guys.

The sound of a body hitting the ground drew their attention back to the fights, the duo seeing that Zoro had collapsed for no apparent reason. Hatchan took advantage of his opponents state and started to pummel stone pillar that he previously held onto, causing it to break apart and collapse onto the downed swordsman.

"Get crushed, Roronoa Zoro!" Hatchan laughed and waited for the sound of flesh being crushed beneath stone. His laughter ceased as a hand grabbed him by the collar.

Barely using any of his monstrous strength, Zoro threw Hatchan directly beneath the falling stone, burying him beneath the rubble.

"How about you get crushed instead," Zoro taunted cooly, right before collapsing to the ground for a second time. "Damn it…," He panted, "Why now of all times!"

"That moron," Sanji growled as he watched from the edge of his vision, "I knew something was up. No way someone could receive a wound like that and just walk it off!" Before the blonde cook could chew his crewmate out, he suddenly rocketed backwards, smashing through the park wall.

"I told you," Started Kuroobi, lowering his now smoking fist, "That taking your eyes off me for a second would cost you. Don't underestimate a 40th level Fishman Karate practitioner."

"NNNYUUUUUU!" The rubble that Hatchan erupted as the octopus Fishman emerged from underneath, completely unscathed and wielding a saber in each hand once again. "I am the number two swordsman on this island, Roronoa Zoro! My six swords style will be the one to defeat you!" He boasted, oblivious that the man he was challenging was currently at death's door.

"Who're you trying to fight Hatchan," Kuroobi crossed his arms, "These weaklings are done for." He turned to Dante and Luffy with a look of disdain. "All that's left are you two."

Only for him to notice that Dante was looking over his coat, searching for any signs of wear and tear while Luffy picked his nose.

"Zoro...Sanji," Luffy spoke as he flicked away a booger, "Who told you that you two could take a break! Get up and kick their asses before I do!"

"I'm with the kid," Dante threw in his two cents, "I mean come on! You've got a crowd and your captain watching you and this parties only just getting started! It's time to style on these fishy boys!"

"...Tch," Zoro bit out as he struggled to his feet, resting a hand on a knee while doing so. "Who asked for your input...old man. And you...octopus," He sent said Fishman a predatory grin, "Let me tell you something. I've got a man that I must defeat one day. And until that day comes, not even the Grim Reaper can take my life!"

The sound of a match lighting from behind reached everyone's ear. The crowd turned around to see Sanji get to his feet, blood running down his face and cigarette between his lips.

"Level 40 huh?" He took a drag and stood beside Zoro, "I guess that means that the kicks I took from that old cook were level 400."

"Don't get in my way...shitty cook." Zoro said, breathing heavily as he tied his bandana around his head and placed his trusted katana between his teeth.

Sanji merely smirked and responded with, "I was gonna say the same thing to you, stupid swordsman."

* * *

From his impromptu wall throne, Arlong did nothing but watch as empire was slowly being destroyed before his rein could truly begin. First that brat caught him off guard with that first punch, then some white haired idiot made a complete fool out of his regular crew.

He had almost stepped in to kill the upstarts himself, but Kuroobi had argued against the notion, citing that he would destroy all of Arlong Park should he start fighting. Trusting in the words of his lieutenants Arlong sat back and awaited for the impending slaughter.

But nothing...nothing could have prepared him for the sight of his brethren being cut down like they were nothing more than insects. Gasping a hold of that anger, Arlong stood up from his seat.

"How-How dare you," Arlong growled at the two that defeated his most capable underlings, "How dare you do this to my brethren!" Anger rolled off him in waves as he took deliberately slow steps towards the source of his rage.

"If you think I'll let this slight go unanswered then you more foolish than I-"

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

Now, Dante had seen a lot of things in his life. He's been to hell and back, fought dark gods and reality warping demons but even he couldn't stop his jaw from dropping at the sight of the kids arm stretching beyond what should've been possible, easily closing the distance and clocking Arlong right across the face.

"Okay! What the hell!?" Dante questioned as the kid proceeded to go fisticuffs with the enraged Fishman, showcasing some decent street fighting skills and strength well beyond that of a normal human. He glanced over at Sanji and Zoro, analyzing them as well. Judging from their expressions, they knew about the kids abilities before hand and were no longer surprised by it.

"Yeah, that was all of our expressions at some point." Sanji blew out a puff of smoke. "After the first couple times you just get used to it."

"How? Why?" The veteran devil hunter was just so confused by these past few hours. The kid had zero demonic energy leaking from his body so Dante could cross any interference from hell off the list. Remembering his conversation with Nami, he could only assume that Luffy's powers stemmed from one of those devil fruits.

But that begged the question. Were all devil fruits like Luffy's and granted the same powers or were they all unique in and of themselves? Just how many different types were out there? And just how messed up was this world that something like devil fruits needed existed.

Dante, ever the thrill seeker, found himself grinning at the prospect of fighting these devil fruit users. "Looks like this party just got crazier." Zoro and Sanji both raised a brow at him but shrugged it off. They hardly had any room to call him weird. They did chose to join Luffy's crew after all.

"ARLONG!"

The dueling captains paused as a familiar voice called out. They turned to see the crowd part, allowing Nami through and to step to the front.

Despite everything that had happened to him that day, Arlong smirked. "Nami...come to watch me kill these pathetic humans have you?"

"No," Nami's face was set with grim determination as she starred her tormentor down. "I've come to kill you!"

"...S-SHAHAHAHAHAH!" Arlong roared in laughter as the girls declaration, finding it more adorable than threatening. "You've come to kill me? That's rich. How many times would this be now? You've failed some many times over the last eight years that I've lost count!"

After a few moments his laughter subsided, replaced with a toothy grin. "You should know more than anyone that you, an inferior human, can't kill me. I, a member of the superior species, can never be killed by the likes of you! It goes against the very laws of nature itself!"

"And you Nami, even after all that you've done, I still won't kill you...but I won't allow you to escape either. I'll have you as my cartographer foreve-"

"SHUT UP!" Luffy shouted, punching Arlong in the stomach while he was distracted causing the Fishman to stumble. "Gomu Gomu…" Throwing his head back Luffy's neck stretched back several meters before snapping forward with dizzying speeds. "BELL!"

Luffy's skull collided with Arlongs, the resounding crack that echoed made many of those watching flinch. In Arlongs case he was sent careening back, only stopping once he crashed into the main building.

Arlong sat in the rubble for a moment and smirked, "Was that supposed to do something?"

"Not really," was the rubber boys carefree response, doing a series of stretches while he waited for the Fishman to get to his feet. "Just wanted you to shut up and fight."

"Shahahaha...for a pathetic human, those attacks weren't all that bad." Arlong complimented, honestly impressed by what the boy was able to accomplish. "But now that I know that your a devil fruit user, I can put an end this pathetic excuse of a battle."

Kneeling over Arlong scooped up some water from a nearby puddle. "Every pirate or marine worth their salt know that all that have eaten the cursed fruit are forever hated by the sea. So all I have to do…"

With what appeared to be a harmless display, Arlong threw some of the water in Luffy's direction. Thinking nothing of it Luffy charged forward, but the moment the water came in contact with him he was flung back with great force, crashing into the stone wall that surrounded the park.

"Is splash some water around," Arlong finished as he watched Luffy slowly get back to his feet, clutching his chest in pain while doing so. "Not had had enough aye?" Before Luffy could react, Arlong had already thrown the rest of the water held in his hand at him. Each individual drop traveling with at the same velocity as a bullet shot from a rifle.

Right before impact though, gunshots rang in the air and the drops of water exploded, leaving Luffy completely unharmed. All eyes turned towards Dante, who had both Ebony and Ivory drawn, smoke emanating from the barrels.

"You," Arlong growled at the devil slayer, the memory of watching the man slaughter his brethren still fresh in his mind. "You can't begin to comprehend the seething rage I feel after watching you crush my fellow Fishmen brothers. I'll have you beg for mercy before grinding your skull beneath my foot-"

"Thanks for the save old guy!" Luffy said cheerfully, rubbing his sore chest and smiling. "I might have died!"

"Names Dante," The white haired man twirled his pistols and holstered them with style. "Also, you don't need to thank me." He jerked a thumb in Nami's direction and walked up to the rubber boy, "The lady asked my to ensure that none of you die so that's what I'm gonna do. Now," He grabbed Luffy by the back of his shirt, spun around and threw his rubbery ass right at Arlong. "Kick his ass and do it with style!"

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed as he flew at the Fishman, "You got it!"

Dusting off his hands and nodding Dante returned to his spot alongside the others and spectated the fight. As he approached though he noticed Zoro eyeing him up. "Something you want to say?"

"...You'll fit in just fine." With his piece said Zoro sat up against the wall and closed his eyes, trying his best to ignore the pain that was exploding throughout his chest.

"...Alright then," Dante raised a brow and turned back to the fight, curious as to what the green haired man meant by that.

* * *

From that point the fight only escalated in intensity. Luffy's sheer strength and crazy fighting style proved to be more than a match for the Fishman, as the human was able to come up with some strange counter to most of Arlong's attacks. So much so that Arlong decided to pull out a giant saw-like sword. From there the two took the fight into the building, making it impossible for the rest of them to know what was going on.

"..What the hell?," Dante whispered as he and the others watched what appeared to be a desk getting launched from the top floor of the main building. It was followed quickly by a multiple bookshelves, more desks but the most abundant item that was thrown about were papers.

Reaching out he snatched one of the hundreds of papers and looked it over. 'Is-is this a sea chart?' Looking around he saw that every single paper was another chart, each hand drawn and done with incredible detail. Dante may be a lazy and easy going person, but even he could appreciate the amount of time and dedication that the person who drew all these put into them.

As he looked at the charts Dante almost missed a stifled cry, one that even his supernatural ears barely picked up. Glancing to his side he spotted Nami, hand covering her mouth and tears streaming down her face.

"Thank you, Luffy."

It was but a whisper but it was all that Dante needed to hear in order to piece a picture together. Nami had been the one that had drawn all these charts...and she was more than happy to see them all go.

The sound of crumbling wood and stone redirected his attention back towards Arlong park, just in time to witness the entire structure collapse on top of itself.

"Ah crap, everyone get back!" Heading the devil hunters warning everyone present began to retreat to a safe distance, getting well out of range from the collapsing building.

Seeing a blur of orange almost pass him by Dante reached out, catching Nami by the arm as she tried to run passed him. "Lady, safety is in that direction!"

"But Luffy's still in there!" She argued while trying to wrestle free from his grip.

"I'm sure your boyfriend will be fine!" Having had enough of her struggling, Dante grabbed her by the waist and unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Put me down!" Nami beat her fists against his back but despite her best efforts the man refused to listen and continued to carry her away. Just in nick of time to as the space she was previously occupying was buried in rubble. Dante didn't set her back down until they were amongst the others.

"I-it's destroyed." Genzo stated in near disbelief as he stared at the ruins of the place that had been a constant reminder of their enslaved way of life. "Arlong park is gone."

"WHO WON!?" questioned Sanji as he looked out for Luffy, not believing that he could be defeated. But it was impossible to tell who had come out on top.

"Look!"

Following the random villagers finger, everyone broke out into smiles at the sight of Luffy standing up at the top of the massive debris pile. He was bleeding profusely from multiple areas, but he was alive and moving. That was more than enough for people to start celebrating.

"NAMI!" Luffy yelling shot down the premature celebration, causing everyone to fall into silence. The rubber man turned to the orangette, a unreadable look in his eyes. "YOU'RE MY FRIEND! YOU GOT THAT!?"

Nami, wiping away her tears, could only smile and nod at the boy. "Got it!"

"He won!" Usopp shouted in glee, dancing with Johnny and Yosaku who cheered as well. The trio were quickly followed by the villagers, now finally free from the long, eight year reign tyrannical rule of Arlong.

While all of this was going on Dante just leaned up against one of the few walls that remained standing, a smirk present on his lips. It was a nice sight, to see hope where there was none just a few hours earlier. His smile disappeared however when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

* * *

BANG!

The sound of a single gunshot put everyone on high alert, the Straw Hats dropping into their respective fighting stances. Hearing a thud off to the side, Luffy to see what it was...and could only look in horror.

"OLD MAN!"

The cry of their captain caused the rest of the crew to see what the commotion was about only to find Dante lying on his back, arms and legs splayed about and not moving. Standing beside him was Cpt Nezumi. His right shoulder was bandaged and in a sling, though his left one was extended with a smoking gun in hand.

"You marine bastard!" Nami started to move forward but the sound of multiple guns being cocked halted her advance. A firing line of marines now stood between them and the crooked Captain, all of which were aiming at the villagers, keeping them and the Straw Hats from moving.

"Now then," Nezumi began, "I'm surprised more than anyone to witness Arlong and his crew be defeated by a group of no name pirates, but I wouldn't start celebrating just yet."

"I will be taking credit for this victory." Nezumi statement caused everyone's expressions to take on a much darker and enraged tone. "The riches of Arlong park will be mine...but first."

He cocked the hammer back and trained his pistol on Nami, "First I will deal with you, pesky thief."

Nami could only stare at the poor excuse of a marine with absolute hatred for everything that he had done and chose not to do. The man's finger tensed for only a second before pulling the trigger.

The orangette didn't look away as everything seemed to go in slow motion. From the corners of her vision she could see Luffy and the others attempt intercept the bullets path, but she was more than aware that they wouldn't make it in time.

She could only wait for the impact...that would never come. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji all fell into a heap in front of her, but them and along with Nami were bullet hole free. Blinking, Nami's eyes widened at what she saw.

Cpt Nezumi stared in shock as the man he had shot at point blank range stood with his back to him and slightly off the the side. Dante's arm was outstretched and grasped between his index and middle finger was the bullet that was intended from Nami, having just exited the barrel.

With his free hand, Dante grabbed Rebellions handle and did what appeared to be two quick swipes with the massive blade. For many that was all they saw, but Zoro...Zoro was able to keep track if barely. He witnessed Dantes arm become a blur as he slashed the rifles in the marines grasp and reduced them all to splinters.

Every.

Single.

One.

"H-How!?" The marine took a step back from the man in fear, an action that was mirrored by his soldiers.

Resting Rebellion on his shoulder, Dante slowly turned so that he was peering at the scum of a Captain over his shoulder and smirked, revealing the bullet that he had caught between his teeth.

Casually spitting it to the side, Dante tightened his hold on his sword and spun into a low crouch. The force generated from the action was enough the send every marine around him flying dozens of yards back, many of them outright getting knocked unconscious, though strangle enough, Nezumi was unharmed from the move.

The man wasn't standing much longer though cause once Dante stood straight he fixed his gaze on the lone Captain who fell back in fright.

"D-don't come any closer!" Nezumi's begging went unheard as the man, no demon(couldn't resist:P) walked towards him. "Do you know who I am and who I work for!? If you so much as lay a finger on me, the world government wil-"

"Shut up." Dante didn't shout but his intent was quite clear. Either be quite and listen or he'll make him. Given how Nezumi had just witnessed this man take out all of his men single handedly and without actually touching them, he did as ordered.

"Now then," Dante began to pace, idly twirling Rebellion around his index finger. "You will not lay a single finger on the money that is found in the rubble here. Instead, what you are going to do is roundup all of these fish boys, get back on your boat and then leave."

"And if I catch wind of you doing anything other than what I've just told you." In the blink of an eye the tip of Rebellion now rested just shy of the marines adam's apple. "You'll be wishing that I had just shot you and been done with it."

With that looming threat in the air Nezumi quickly ordered his remaining soldiers to gather the Fishmen. They received no help from the villagers or the Straw Hats, only looks of barely restraint rage. It wasn't too long before all of the Fishmen Pirates were in chains and being sent to Marines ship for transport.

"I will not forget this insult!" Now with several hundred yards between them Nezumi had regained his previous bravado. "Especially you old man! That thief said that your name is Dante right? Your face will be plastered over every bounty board in the four blues!"

"And Straw Hat! Don't think I forgot about you defeating Arlong! You'll all get your just deserts! All of you will feel the absolute hammer of justice that is the marines!" A bullet whizzing past his cheek, successfully shutting him up and sending him diving for cover.

Dante blew at the smoke coming from Ivory's barrel before hostering the gun with a twirl. "Guy really loves to hear his own voice."

"Shishishishi," Luffy laugh, "That guy was funny!" He was silence by Nami placing his hat upon his head, making him bite his tongue.

"To think we'd be save by a group of pirates and a hitchhiker..." Genzo shook his head at the sheer absurdity of it all. 'I guess help comes in the most unexpected ways.'

* * *

The rest of the day was nothing more than a blur as news of Arlong Parks fall spread like wildfire.

Upon returning to the village the Straw Hats were all treated for their wounds. Zoro gave everyone a scare when it was revealed that the wound from his last fight had reopened yet had continued to fight, earning the swordsman and earful from the doctor.

When night fell though no one slept as the whole village celebrated the freedom that they had sought for so long. For three days and nights the island ate, drank and danced. The celebration only ending once the food and drink ran out.

It was during the last night of partying that Dante, who also partook in the partying, was confronted by Luffy.

* * *

"HEY OLD GUY!"

Dante felt his eye twitch at what was quickly becoming his two most hated words in every language. "Excuse me ladies but it seems that I'm needed elsewhere," giving the two women that he had been flirting with a bow he turned to see Luffy waving him down.

"For that last time kid, my name is Dante." He threw a friendly arm over the young captain's shoulder and pulled him in close, "Say it with me now. D.A.N.T.E."

"Join my crew!"

Dante sighed as he was, unsurprisingly, completely ignored.

"You're not gonna let this go are you?" He sighed at Luffy's confirmatory nod. He'd have to change tactics then. "Why do you want me on your crew so bad anyway?"

"Why not!?"

The devil hunter facepalmed. Was this kid being serious right now? "I don't see why you need me. You've got some decently strong crewmates, why add me to the mix?"

"Because I'm the captain and I said so."

'Oh for the love of-this kid is serious!' Dante felt like tearing his hair out in frustration. He was close to doing just that but was hit by an idea. "Alright...I'll join your crew." Luffy nearly leapt in happiness but a firm grip on his shoulder held him down.

"But only," Reaching into his pocket Dante retrieved a coin, "if you beat me in a bet. Heads, I join your crew. Tails, you stop bugging me and we go are separate ways."

"So," Thumbing the coin into the air devil hunter and pirate watched it turned end over end as it plummeted towards the ground. "Let's see what happens."

 **-END-**

 **Zrocker119: And with this the Arlong Park arc has reached it's conclusion. So what did you all think? I'm sure some will be disappointed by Dante not stepping up as much as you expected, but as DMC 4 showed he isn't afraid to watch from the sidelines every once and a while. Don't worry though, Dante will get his time in the spot light and show the world what this devil it truly capable of.**

 **Till next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Zrocker119:** **After ten thousand years I've finally arisen to bring forth a whole new chapter!...Really sorry for the long wait everybody, but between DMC 5 finally coming out and Sekiro, well I've been occupied as of late. On the plus side though I've got a beta reader for this story so grammatical errors should be at an all time low, thus helping the over all flow of the story.**

 **Before we get to the good stuff, know that there's a somewhat length AN at the end of this chapter that involves Dante's role in this story, so it's kind of sort of important. So please check it out once you reach it!**

 **-A True Devil on the High Seas-**

 **-Start-**

"Are you kidding me?" Nami glared at a bird perched on the rail. A bag full of newspapers hung around its neck and wore a hat with some sort of postal mark in the center. "The price has gone up again. Isn't it getting a little too expensive?"

"Caww," the bird shrugged. It didn't decide on the prices and didn't care. It just delivered the newspapers.

The two stared at one another before Nami finally relented. With a sigh she deposited a coin into the bag and grabbed a paper. "Fine, but raise the price again and I won't be buying them."

From his spot against the mast, Dante watched the interaction with interest. From what he had gathered, the veteran demon hunter was able to piece together just what kind of era this world was in and guessed that it was currently in the equivalent of the mid to late 15th century of earth.

So the fact that birds were used to deliver messages wasn't _that_ much of a surprise. But that they delivered newspapers and were reliable...yeah that was surprising.

Just another thing he was gonna have to eventually get used to.

Heading over to the rest of the crew he took a quick step back, the form of Luffy flying right in front of him and crashing into Usopp.

"Come on Sanji! Can't I just have one?" Whined Luffy, his mouth watering at the sight of the tangerine trees that took most of the space up on the upper deck. How they had managed to fit so many of them up there, Dante had no idea.

"No," Sanji stood firmly between the trees and his captain. "Nami tasked me with protecting her precious tangerines! I won't allow anyone to touch a single leaf!" His eyes turned into hearts as he looked to Nami.

"Nami-swan! My defense powered by love is infallible!"

The orangette send him a wink before going back to her paper, "Thanks, Sanji." Her praise was enough to cause the man to turn into a literal tornado of joy.

"Well he's...yeah, I got nothing." Dante leaned against the railing, chin on his palm as he stared out at the open water with a hint of boredom.

"He's a tool is what he is," Zoro grumbled, closing his eyes to try and catch a couple Z's, but paused to look a the red clad man. "Hey." Dante glanced over at him. "You never did explain how Luffy strong armed you into joining the crew."

Dante looked at the younger man for a moment before turning back to the sea.

* * *

 **-A few days earlier-**

There was a tense moment of silence as Devil hunter and Pirate stared at the coin that would have an enormous impact on both of their futures, the coin flipping through the air as it plummeted to the ground. Hitting the hardened dirt below, it bounced just once before finally settling on one side.

Too bad it was one that neither were expecting.

"Huh, well would you look at that." Dante's tone was one of disbelief and for good reason. Despite all the odds, the coin had somehow managed to balance itself on its edge…at least that was until a slight breeze came by and pushed the perfectly balanced coin over to so that the heads side face up.

Dante could only blink owlishly at what had just occurred while Luffy hopped around like an idiot, a big tooth smile on his face.

"...Why does lady luck hate me?" Despite his words, Dante didn't appear to be all that upset by this turn of events. In fact he looked quite satisfied with the outcome. "Well then, Captain." he looked at the hyper active kid, "Where are we going to first?"

* * *

 **-Present-**

Dante smirked fondly at the memory and continued to stare at the ocean. While he may not have been planning on following the outgoing crew around, he couldn't say that the past couple of days hadn't been interesting.

The sound of paper fluttering to the floor caught the attention of everybody as a flyer fell from Nami's recently purchased newspaper. Everyone leaned over to look at it followed by silence before they all, yes even Dante in all of his badassness, took a step back in surprise.

"EHHHHHHHH!"

Quickly breaking out of his initial shock Luffy snatched the paper from the floor before smiling and flipping it around to show it off. In the center of the paper was a picture of him, smiling exactly like he was now, though it was what accompanied the picture that was the source of their shock.

 **Wanted**

 **Dead or Alive**

 **Monkey D. Luffy**

 **Reward**

 **$30,000,000**

"NAHAHAHAHAHA! Look guys, I'm a wanted man now!" The young captains joy was cut short by Nami punching him on top of his head, sending him plummeting into the deck.

"This is not something to celebrate," she roared, smoke emanating from her fist. "Now, not only do we have marines to worry about but bounty hunters as well."

While Luffy was getting chewed out, Dante had snatched up the dropped wanted poster and was now looking it over in greater detail. While doing so he couldn't help but wonder just how much 30,000,000 of these Berries was in his world's currency. As he held the paper though he noticed that it felt thicker than it should.

Upon closer inspection he soon figured out why.

"Uh, Nami."

The orangette ceased her shaking of Luffy and turned to face the devil hunter. "What!?"

Rather than speak Dante instead pinched the poster between his fingers and slid it to the side, revealing that there was another one behind stuck to the back. Flipping it around everyone saw that Luffy hadn't been the only one with a price on his head.

 **Wanted**

 **Dead or Alive**

' **Red Coat' Dante**

 **Reward**

 **$25,000,000**

Above the caption was a picture of him with Rebellion resting on his shoulder and Ivory pointed at the camera, a cocky smirk on his face. His coat was flared out as well making it look like a highly stylized photo.

"Now I have _very_ serious questions," he held up Luffy's poster alongside his own. Everyone leaned in as Dante paused for dramatic tension. "...When the hell did they take these pictures!? Seriously! I don't ever recall getting in this pose!"

Everyone face palmed, with the exception of Luffy who simply laughed.

Grumbling about how she was surrounded by idiots Nami let out an exhausted sigh, "Well, now that two of you have bounties, I guess we have no choice but to head straight for the Grand Line."

"Shishshishi, you heard our navigator," Luffy threw his hands in the air and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Set a course for the Grand Line!"

"Aye, aye!"

Holding up a finger Dante was about to ask what a Grand Line was but held back at the last moment. Given how much they've talked about it since he got on the boat, it was a given that whatever it was is common knowledge. So asking questions would be very out of place and he thought it was way too early to reveal that he was from a separate dimension entirely.

Swallowing his curiosity, Dante took a step back and was content with watching the others psych themselves up for the next leg of their journey when he spot something off in the distance. "Hey, I think I see the next island!"

Nami stepped alongside him, spotting what he was indicating towards quite easily as it grew larger the closer they got to it. "Well, we don't need any more proof that we're close to the Grand Line than that."

Seeing Dante's questionable glance she elaborated further. "That's Logue Town but it's also known as the town of the beginning and the end, as that's where Gold D. Roger was born and later on executed."

"So that's where the Pirate King died at," Dante quirked a brow at Luffy's statement.

His only interactions with pirates was so far limited to Arlong's crew and the merry band he was currently a part of and both were radically different from the other. One embodied the ideal he was had read about in books, while Luffy's gang just kind of did what they wanted without the intent to harm others, and if the stories the other told him were true and what he witnessed first hand, often helped complete strangers just on a whim.

And these were just the first two crews that Dante had interacted with. For there to have been a king of pirates...then this Roger had to have been quite a powerful and charismatic person.

"So," Nami tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, smiling at all of them, "shall we get going?"

* * *

Shortly after docking each member of the Strawhats had gone to do their own thing. Luffy had gone to see the execution platform where Roger had spent his last few moments, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp had each gone to shop for supplies that would suit their individual need, though the green-haired swordsman had to take a loan from Nami in order to do so.

Speaking of the orangette, Nami had been about to go off to do her own shopping, only to stop when she heard Dante ask a local for directions to the nearest library. More than just a bit curious she decided to tag along.

"So why a library?"

Dante glanced at the shorter woman before returning his gaze forward. "For research. What other reason would I go to one?"

Nami looked at him with an amused expression, "Really? You, researching something? Sorry but I don't really get that kind of vibe from you."

"There's a lot that you don't know about me," he teased back. "But I'm honestly way out of my field of expertise here. Hell, I had never been sailing until my run in with you, so I figured that I would look up what info this place has on the Grand Line."

Nami blinked at that. She was genuinely impressed by his foresight, as she had figured him for another crew member that only thought with his fists and nothing else. But now that she thought about it, this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to her. This was the same man that was able to piece together her previous life goal after only a few minor hints and some common sense.

"Well, as navigator I guess it only makes sense for me to tag along...but afterwards you have to help me with my shopping," she added with a look that told Dante that he would have no say in the matter.

Rather than try and argue with the woman, Dante simply agreed with her terms. Besides this wouldn't have been his first time getting dragged along on a shopping trip, and if he could handle Lady, Trish and Patty, then there was no doubt in his mind that he would survive whatever Nami could throw at him.

* * *

"Are you sure that you want all of this?" A rather plump woman asked as she looked over the large pile of clothing that Nami had placed on her counter. "A lot of this is pretty expensive."

Fists on her hips Nami gave the woman a small glare. "I wouldn't have brought it up if I couldn't afford it." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "Also don't forget those."

That was when the shopkeeper noticed another, even larger pile of clothes behind her.

The center of the pile shifted as Dante's head poked through it, "You're intentionally buying all of these just to screw with me, I just know it." Nami responded with a wink and stuck her tongue out.

"Ah, that's so sweet of you," the shopkeeper spoke to Dante. "It's not everyday that a father will take his daughter shopping for clothes."

That comment wiped away Nami's teasing look, becoming much more somber than what Dante had seen previously. Setting his pile of clothes on the counter Dante spoke, "We're not related in any way. I was just the crew member that got suckered into helping her with shopping."

Seeing her mistake the woman wrung the two up and sent them on their way. "Thank you for your business, please come again," she said with a kind smile.

"...Actually," Nami said after looking at the sky for a moment and turned back to the shopkeeper, "Do you have vinyl bags that we can put these in?"

"Vinyl bags?" Dante shared the woman's confusion and glanced upwards to see nothing but clear skies with a few clouds scattered about. There was no indication of the weather being anything short of perfect.

"Never hurts to be too careful." With no further explanation, Nami placed her purchases in the provided bags and bid the woman a good day.

For several minutes the two walked in complete silence, Nami didn't speak due to her looking at her pocket watch every couple seconds and Dante because he didn't really know how to start up a conversation.

But after another few moments of their awkward silence Dante decided to speak. "So...how's the new wrist accessory treating you?" he asked, looking towards the watch-like item that now adorned her wrist.

While researching into the Grand Line, the two had stumbled across something very important. That being that a standard compass would be worthless and could only be navigate via a log pose. Apparently each island in the next leg of their journey had its own unique magnetic field that the log pose would attune itself to and point toward the next island, never shifting until the next destination was reached and then re-attuned itself again.

How this planet even functioned with all of these different magnetic fields Dante had no clue, but was more than willing to suspend his disbelief, besides he had a feeling that things would only get weirder as they moved further and further into the Grand Line.

"It'll definitely take some getting used to," Nami looked at the needle as it currently hung uselessly with no magnetic field to lock onto. "But it's a good thing we happened across one. Who knows what would've happened if we got to the Grand Line without it."

"I'm sure we would've thought of something," Dante gave her an uncaring shrug. "So, anything else you want to get done before we meet up with the others?"

A sigh came from the young woman, "While I would like to get some more supplies, we're on a time limit." At his raised brow she continued. "The air pressure and temperature has been dropping for awhile now. If that wasn't bad enough, I saw a cumulus cloud heading from the east and fast. That's a sure sign of a huge storm."

Blinking Dante looked to the eastern sky. After focusing for a moment he made out the cloud that Nami was talking about, though he could actually see it. Nami _predicted_ it. Turning back to her, he blinked once more. "You're scary...you know that right?" She just smirked at him in response.

It was at that moment that the two walked into the town's square, with Zoro and the others showing up at the same time. Saying their greetings, all of them noticed one thing. Luffy was nowhere to be seen.

"Wasn't Luffy going to check out the execution stand?" questioned Usopp as he looked around the plaza.

Dante jerked a thumb to the opposite side of the plaza, "Isn't that right over there though? With how excitable he always seems to be, I figured he'd be making some kind of racket."

* * *

 **-at the same time-**

"So what's the situation?" The one that spoke was a large, muscular man with light blue-green hair. He wore a white and blue specialist marine jacket which was kept open, with greenish fur lining the neck, wrists, and hem. The jacket bore the kanji for "justice" upon the back.

The rest of the man's clothing was common enough. Just some simple blue jeans with a brown belt, leather gloves and military-issue leather boots.

The man was clearly a smoker, as there were litteral belts of cigars strapped to his jacket, and by the fact that he was currently smoking two of said cigars at the same time.

"Well, Captain Smoker," spoke a rather generic looking marine, "Three pirates with bounties have taken over the square and seem to be trying to kill each other."

"Civilians?"

"One of the pirate crews have rounded them up and are forcing them to watch." Reaching the upper floor of a close by building, Smoker got a clear view of the plaza, seeing that it was full to the brim with civilians. On the plus side though, they were all being kept back from the center where the execution platform stood and closer to the outer edge.

That didn't stop him from getting angry though. Of course pirates would want an audience. "Do we at least know the identities of the pirates?"

"Yes sir," saluted a different marine. "We've identified them as Alvida, Buggy the Clown, and Strawhat Luffy."

"Strawhat," Smoker quirked a brow. "I've never heard of him before."

"His bounty just came in earlier today. But it's a high one at $30,000,000."

Smoker let out a grunt of surprise. The average bounty in the east blue being around $5,000,000 it was an impressive first bounty.

"With a bounty that high, he should be quite a challenge for the others."

"Uhmmm, actually sir," the marine from before spoke up, "he's the one that's about to be executed."

"Oh," Smoker nodded with little interest. "In that case keep everyone on standby. We'll let the pirates kill each other. Only then will we go in and capture who's lef-"

" **I'M THE MAN...WHO'LL BECOME THE PIRATE KING!** " Strawhat roared at the top of his lungs, forcing his audience into a stunned silence. Even his would be executioner couldn't help but lock in place, if only for a second.

A murmur broke throughout the crowd at the bold declaration, even though most blew it off as the delusional wish of a dying boy. Smoker was one such person, though he had to give Strawhat credit where it was due. Many Pirates had set sail for the fame and glory that finding the One Piece would give them. Yet none had had the stones to declare it out for the world to hear.

"Captain," Smoker's inner musings were interrupted by a marine handing him a pair of binoculars, "Another pirate with a bounty is charging through Alvida and Buggy's crew. It's the other new one that arrived at the same time as Strawhat's. It's Red Coat Dante, Sir. Bounty of $25,000,000! And according to the reports he's a member of Strawhat's crew alongside the bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro!"

' _Another high one.'_ Looking through his binoculars, the marine Captain was able to see who it was that his subordinates were talking about. ' _He certainly dresses the part,'_ he mused while taking in the man's appearance, 'He's much older than what I would've expected from a new bounty. And he's working alongside a kid.'

The thought of two high bounty pirates working together left a sour taste in Smoker's mouth. There was no telling what those two could do to the Blue's if they made it off the islands. It was a good thing that he's was the best when it came to ripping these weeds out by the roots.

"Tashigi," Smoker spoke, turning to his second in commands who was currently staring intently through her own binoculars.

Tashigi was a rather attractive young woman with chin length black hair, dark brown eyes, and a pair of rectangular glasses with red frames. She wore a short-sleeved shirt that was mostly covered by her white-trimmed, waist-length blue leather coat. Like Smoker himself she too wore simple blue jeans, though chose a pair of black shoes instead of boots.

While her discipline could use some work, Smoker knew deep down that she would become a fine marine one day. Too bad they didn't have time to wait for that day to come.

"Tashigi!" Speaking louder this time Smoker succeeded in getting his second's attention. "Have all units prepare for battle. We're gonna have our hands full th-" Smoker paused mid sentence and nearly dropped his cigars as his eyes fell on the execution stand.

Strawhat, despite being pinned down...despite a sword descending towards his neck...despite being about to die...was smiling.

"Hey! Dante! Zoro! Sanji! Usopp! Nami!" The straw hat wearing rubber boy gave the biggest smile any of them had ever seen in their entire lives, and it was completely devoid of any anger one should have had in his situation. "Sorry everyone, but it looks like I'm dead."

Zoro and Sanji both had horrified expressions as Buggy's sword descended closer and closer, now only a hair's breadth away from separating Luffy's head from his shoulders.

.

.

.

.

.

Only to be caught in the notch near the tip of a much larger blade at the last possible second.

"Well I hate to disappoint you Captain," Dante spoke smoothly, now standing beside Luffy and holding back the opposing weapon without even looking, "but you ain't dying here. Our party hasn't even gotten started yet-" The red themed devil hunter paused as he noticed a spark of lighting dance across Rebellion.

Buggy noticed as well, and the pair looked up to see the biggest, darkest cloud that ever existed now hung above them, blotting out the entire sky.

"...Oh crap."

A giant bolt of lighting flew from the heavens and struck to platform with a thunderous crack that only mother nature could create, setting the entire structure ablaze.

As rain began to pour, Luffy's straw hat slowly floated to the ground with a gentle plop. Moments later its owner picked it up and placed it back atop his head where it belonged.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy grinned, completely unharmed by what could only be called an act of divine intervention, "Looks like I survived!"

The gathered pirates could only stare as Luffy approached his two crewmates, both of which were also trying to process what the hell had just happened.

"Hey, Zoro...do you believe in God?" The blonde cook asked, spitting out his now soaked cigarette. "Also where's Dante? He was up there with you."

"I'm good," A nearby pile of rubble shifted around as Dante emmerged. His hair was standing on ends and was covered from head to toe with soot, but other than that was completely fine despite getting struck by lightning.

"...Alright then," Zoro jerked a thumb over his shoulder and toward the docks. "Can we get going now? We've got a whole lot of trouble heading our way and I don't feel like fighting my way through an entire towns worth of marines."

As if that was the signal, a whole squadron of the boys in white and blue showed up, armed to the teeth.

The four pirates needed no further incentive than that to start running like crazy, blowing past the marines and heading straight towards the docks.

* * *

"Shouldn't we just fight all of these guys off?" questioned Luffy, a literal wall of marines following a short ways back. They had been running for several minutes now, yet their pursuers just kept on giving chase and were even growing in numbers.

"While I'm all for a good fight," Dante ducked as a bullet wizzed above his head. "Nami told me that we need to get to the ship as soon as possible. This storm's going to get worse and we'll be stuck if we don't leave soon."

Another bullet flew by, making Dante sigh and fire a few pot shots back at them as they continued to run. He didn't aim for anything lethal though as these marines seemed to be actual keepers of peace, unlike the corrupted ones they had previously encountered.

As they continued their retreat, the group noticed a figure that barred their path. Upon noticing that it was a woman Sanji immediately went heart-eyed while the others just kept going as is.

"Sergeant Major Tashigi," the marines chasing our heros cried in joy.

At least now they all knew what her name was.

"To think you were Roronoa Zoro," Tashigi glared hatefully at the green-haired swordsman who just smirked back. "Were you just toying with me earlier at the sword shop!? Regardless, I'm taking back the Wadou Ichimonji from you!"

The Sgt. drew her sword and locked blades with Zoro, the pirate shooting his crewmates a confident smirk and nodding for them to keep going. They responded with smirks mirroring his...well Luffy and Dante did at least. Sanji just glared, grumbling to himself about how he better not lay a hand on the woman.

With that obstacle being taken care of, the trio continued down the street, at least they were until yet another person stood in their way.

"I'm starting to see a pattern here," Dante muttered as they drew closer to the giant of a man that blocked their way.

"So you've finally come, Strawhat Luffy, Red Coat Dante." They watched as the man's arms turned into plums of smoke and expand at an alarming rate. Dante and Sanji were able to avoid the smoke but Luffy was much too slow and got caught in it. "The name's Smoker. I'm the Captain in charge here and I'm not letting you escape this island!"

"Get out of our way," Sanji landed a spinning drop kick to Smoker's skull, only for it to explode into smoke.

Despite Sanji's extended leg still occupying the space, Smokers head reformed around the limb with no difficulty. "I don't have time for runts like you. White blow!"

Smoker's unoccupied arm shot out with explosive force into Sanji's chest. The limb extended until the cook slammed into the building nearby.

"Sanji," Luffy shouted in worry before turning to Smoker with anger. "Gomu Gomu Pistol!" Like before the attack caused Smoker to explode into a cloud of his namesake. A moment later he reformed, this time choosing to reform behind Luffy and grabbing him by the skull.

Shoving him to the ground the Marine couldn't help but feel disappointed. "Are you really worth 30 million beli?" From the corner of his eye Smoker spotted Red Coat standing on one of the nearby rooftops.

The two stared the other down for a moment before Dante took a step forward, kicking off the building as he fell and launching himself at Smoker with a double dropkick.

With a barely audible "tch", Smoker just let the upstart repeat the same mistake his crewmates had already made. Disappointment was replaced with pain though as the man's boots impacted against his face, knocking his cigars from his mouth and sending the marine rocketing through a wall and into a building.

Doing back flip, Dante landed with one leg stretched out and a palm to the ground as he stared at the newly made hole. After a few seconds of nothing Dante realized that the man wasn't getting back up.

"Uhm...that was easier than I thought it was going to be." He glanced over at Luffy and Sanji, both of whom had picked themselves back up. "You guys hanging in there?" Luffy shot him a goofy grin and thumbs up while Sanji nodded.

"What are you guys doing!?" All three turned to see Zoro sprinting towards them like a man possessed. "That huge ass storm is here!"

As if it were waiting for a signal, a powerful gust of wind tore down the street. The gust was so strong that it nearly caused them all to be carried away, fortunately all of them managed to hold their ground.

With a figurative fire lit underneath them and no longer having their way blocked by annoying marines, the reunited party of four were able to quickly cover the remaining distance to the docks in record time. And not a moment to soon as the moment their feet touched the deck, the ropes holding the Merry in place snapped.

No longer secured to the docks, the wind caught their sails and quickly carried them out to sea where the waves were even larger. For several moments the Strawhats feared that the waves would capsize the ship, but Merry proved more than a match for nature's wrath and kept on going forward.

"Yahoo!" Luffy and Dante laughed in tandem, the younger man holding his hat in place while the hunter let his coat whip about in the wind as the sky lit up with thunder and lightning.

"Hell yeah," Dante grinned. "If this is how mother nature parties here, then I can't wait to see how she does on the Grand Line!"

"I say this calls for a celebration." Everyone turned to see Sanji returning from below deck, a barrel of booze with him. Placing it in the center of the deck the cook set his heel on the lid.

"To find the all blue."

While Dante was a bit lost on what Sanji was doing, the other were quick to understand and followed suit.

"To become the king of the pirates!"

"To be the greatest swordsman..."

"To draw a map of the world!"

"T-To become a brave warrior of the seas!"

All heads turned toward Dante who had remained rooted to his spot. His confusion was slowly replaced with understanding and shook his head. "Well crap. I hate to say it but I accomplished my life goal about twenty years ago. Since then I've just been doing what I do best and never thought of a different goal to reach...So!"

Walking toward them he raised his boot and planted it on the barrel. "I think I'll settle for helping you all a accomplish your own." He turned to Luffy with a grin that the Strawhat wearing boy returned. "That alright with you, Captain?"

"Shishishi!" Raising his leg the rest of them followed suit before bringing their feet down onto the barrel with a loud crash.

"TO THE GRAND LINE!"

 **-End-**

 **Alright time to get real for a moment. I want to address something that I've seen get mentioned many times in reviews and t** **hat being how Dante scales to the world of One Piece. While my next sentence will trigger MANY of you, there's just no other way for me to say it.**

 **Dante is a very over power and unfortunately for that still applies even though he's now in One Piece. Now before some of you go accusing me of being a Dante fanboy and speculate that I'm gonna trivialize the rest of the crew just to make him look good, just stop right now because that's not gonna happen.**

 **I love One Piece. It's in my 2nd favorite anime for a reason. So I don't want Luffy and the crew to feel useless.**

 **That being said though, there really isn't anyone that Dante can't defeat. So what does that leave me with? Abusing Dante's very noticeable weakness...his constant need to hold back. Dante is very much aware of how brokenly over powered he is. To keep himself from constantly getting bored, he places limits on himself so that he can still get a thrill from combat, otherwise he would end up like Saitama from One Punch Man and constantly be depressed.**

 **These limits, along with his cocky attitude have led to him getting his ass kick. For example his first encounter with his nephew Nero, that ended with him getting impaled to a statue with his own sword. Or the time he fought Abigail(yes the anime is canon) and was impaled with his own sword...again...Dante gets stabbed by Rebellion a lot.**

 **The point I'm trying to make is that Dante isn't perfect and makes mistakes. And trust me when I say that he'll drop the ball pretty hard more than once throughout this story.**

 **Anyway let me know what you think of the story so far. I'm always open to constructive criticism! Zrocker119 out!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Zrocker119:** **Another day, another chapter. Enjoy.**

 **-A True Devil on the High Seas-**

 **-Start-**

Within the dining room of the Going Merry, the male members of the Straw Hat Pirates stared at their lone female member, each and everyone of them confused beyond belief at what she had just told them.

"So let me get this straight," Dante put a finger on the map that was laid out before them. "You're telling us that the only way to get to the Grand Line, is for us to take this ship _up a freaking mountain_! Did I misinterpret any of that?"

The navigator shook her head, "Nope, that's exactly how the map says we're supposed to get there."

"That's the map that you stole from Buggy right?" Zoro questioned. "If so then how reliable can it really be? Besides, wouldn't it be a better option for us to just sail south and head in that way?"

"No we can't do that!" Luffy declared. "Going through the real entrance is so much cooler!"

Nami massaged her temples in an effort to stifle the migraine that threatened to come forth. "That's not the reason at all. Not even close."

"Uh guy's." Everyone turned to Dante who was now standing out in the middle of the deck. "The storms gone." He glanced at Nami, whose expression was becoming more and more panic stricken by the second.

"OH NO!" Nami shrieked, "WE'VE ENTERED THE CALM BELT!"

While the other members may not have understood the reasoning behind Nami's sudden freakout, Dante did, he had been with her while researching the Grand Line after all. That meant he too knew about the dangers that lied within this stretch of the sea.

But with Dante being who he was, he wasn't all that worried about what could happen and just decided to lean back and watch with some amusement as Nami tired to explain the rest of the crew just how much trouble they were in, only for them to downplay her worries.

Their argument didn't last long though as the ship began to shake uncontrollably before suddenly rising into the sky as the ocean gave way and the crew found themselves resting utop the head of a giant Sea King. But it wasn't just one, no, the whole sea was suddenly teeming with dozens of the leviathans, each and every one of them unique in their own way.

"This place is a den for Sea Kings," Nami cried, hugging the mast of the ship for some form of comfort. A feeling that was shared between most of the younger crew members.

Dante meanwhile stroked his chin in thought, staring at one Sea King in particular that was much larger than the rest of its brethren. It took only a moment before he snapped his fingers as it came to him. "Hey, it's you!" He called out to a familiar serpentine whale with a small scar on the side of its face.

The rest of the Straw Hats shrieked as the Sea King he had called out to approached, its head bent down so that it was level with them. It stared at the one clad in red, it's massive eyes narrowing as it recognized him and let out a low growl. Though for the ones on board the Going Merry, it may as well have an encroaching thunderstorm.

"How've you been," Dante greeted cheerily, only to be smacked upside the head by Nami.

"What are you doing!? Stop drawing it's attention to us!" she shrieked/whispered.

"Remember what I told you back when we first met? Specifically how I crashed into the ship." His inquiry caused Nami to pause. Thinking back to that day, she tried to recall all of the information he had dropped on her.

A moment later and her panicked expression returned.

"I-is this the same Sea King that-"

"Yep!" The white haired devil slayer replied all too cheerfully for somebody within biting distance of one of the most feared beasts in the world. But as the Straw Hats would soon come to learn, there were only two things that Dante feared.

.

.

.

Olives on his pizza and soul crushing debt.

"So," Dante returned his attention back to the looming King of the Sea. "No hard feelings about the little paper cut that I gave you, right?"

What he received was the Sea Kings equivalent of a deadpan stare, before its mouth opened wide and let out a mighty gust of breath that caught the Merry's sails, propelling the ship back in the direction from whence they came.

"I'll take that as a yes!" Dante yelled once the ship crashed back into the heart of the storm, somehow knowing that the creature would be able to hear him over the raging waves and winds.

"I wanna go back home," came the pitiful whine of Usopp who, much like the rest of the crew, was sprawled out across the deck.

Nami sat up, rubbing the back of her head as she spoke, "Now do you all see why we have to take the actual entrance?" The collective groans of 'yes' was the response she received. "One the plus side, I think I figured out how we'll be getting up the mountain."

"I think I did too." Everyone turned to Dante, who just jerked a thumb in the direction they were sailing towards, where they could barely make out what looked like a waterway that, instead of running down the mountain, appeared to be defying physics and flowed upwards.

"We're running off course!" Nami was quick to take charge, issuing out orders to the rest of the crew in order to keep them from crashing into the sides of the Red Line. There was a slight hiccup when the ships rudder snapped due to the pressure that it was under, but with quick thinking on Luffy's part (go figure) they were able to keep their journey from coming to a crashing halt.

With the speed that they were going at, It didn't take long for the Merry to reach the peak of Reverse Mountain. After a brief moment of going airborne, the small, but reliable ship landed on the other side of the waterway with no trouble whatsoever.

"Shishishishi, so this is the Grand Line," Luffy exclaimed, seated comfortably on the figurehead of the ship. His excitement turned to confusion though as instead of the open sea that they had been expecting, a large, dark object shrouded in fog barred their path.

"Hey Nami, there's a mountain in front of us!"

"That can't be," Nami denied, looking over the chart it her hands. "After the twin capes we should hit nothing but open water."

" **BUOOOOH!** "

"Uh, guys." Having grabbed their attention Dante pointed at the looming object, the fog surrounding it beginning to clear. "That's not a mountain!"

" **BUOOOOHHHHH!** " The fog cleared, revealing to them all that Dante was correct. The object barring their way wasn't a mountain at all as the side of the object split open to reveal a mouth filled with teeth, each one being several times larger than the Going Merry.

" **BUOOOHHHH!** "

"IT'S A GIANT WHALE!" All of them roared, the sheer size of the beast, causing their mouths to fall open in a comical display of awe.

" **BUOOOOOOOHHHHHH!** " A monsterous bellow emanated from its throat, the sound could be heard for miles in every direction.

"WE'RE GONNA CRASH INTO IT!" The sniper of the crew shrieked in absolute terror.

"There's an opening to the left of it," observed Zoro. "Hurry and turn the ship!"

"RUDDERS BROKEN!"

"Well we've got to do something!"

While Zoro, Usopp and Sanji were trying to force the rudder to turn, Dante noticed Luffy approaching the cannon. Not liking where things were going he snatched the young captain by the back of his shirt.

"Hey, what'd you do that for?"

"If whatever you're planning involves that," the devil hunter jerked a thumb at the piece of heavy weaponry. "Then it's a bad idea."

He was interrupted when a pair of hands grabbed him by his coat.

"Will you stop being so nonchalant about all of this!" Nami roared in rage, her teeth becoming cartoonishly sharp and fire burning in her eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, we're about to crash into a giant whale! So instead of standing there and doing nothing, try and help out!"

Once she had ceased in her shaking she stared at Dante, a panicked look in her gaze. A complete opposite to his own.

Smirking Dante gave a two fingered salute before disappearing in a blur. Blinking the Navigator and Captain duo searched around in a panic. Where had he disappeared to?

"What the-How the hell did Dante get over there?" Following Zoro's outburst the two turned toward the front of the ship, spying the red clad man standing above the water with the use of one of those strange glyphs.

With exaggerated martial arts motions, Dante settled into a stance that none of them recognized. But instead of facing the whale...he was facing the approaching Merry.

"D-Dante?" Nami squeaked.

"Don't worry," There was a cocky smirk on lips as the ship grew ever closer to his position.

"Dante."

And closer

"DANTE!"

It wasn't until the bow of the Going Merry was about to crush him that he finally moved. With speeds that none of them could comprehend, his hand lashed out. Normally such a blow would've reduced a good chunk of the ship to splinters, but Dante wasn't aiming to destroy, simply redirect.

Just as his open palm connected with the Merry, it was encased in the red barrier of his Royal Guard Style, absorbing most of the kinetic energy, slowing the ship by a significant margin and shoved it back with just enough force to change the trajectory of the ship, now sending it veering to the left of the whale and out of harm's way.

The rest of the Straw Hats could only stand in muted shock as the Merry calmly sailed past the whale, coming to a stop alongside a lighthouse that sat just off the side of the entrance to the Grand Line.

Their stupor lasted until Dante re-appeared, laying casually on the upper railing and a smirk on his face. "So...what's next?"

As if the very universe was answering his whim, the door to the lighthouse opened, where a rather stocky and muscular oldman came walking out. The most peculiar thing about him though had to be the strange, flower petal-like things that circled around his bald head.

"What's with all of the racket?"

* * *

"So, you're friends with the big lug over there?" questioned Dante, who helped himself to one of the drinks that the oldman, who had introduced himself as Crocus, had placed on the table the Straw Hats were gathered around.

"How does somebody befriend a whale?" Usopp flinched slightly when the whale let out another monstrous bellow. "And why does it keep shouting at the mountain."

"His name's Laboon," Crocus corrected, "and as for why he bellows at the reverse mountain...there's a story behind that."

As the oldman began to explain the circumstances that led to Laboon's horrific scarring, Dante cocked his head as he heard what sounded like footsteps. Glancing over he saw that Zoro had heard it as well. Sending him a subtle nod, Dante stood with a stretch. Giving the excuse that he had to take a leak, he walked around to the back of the lighthouse.

Once out of the others line of sight Dante used trickster to appear on one of the many ledges that dotted the side of the Red Line and looked down. On another overhang, just below him, he spotted two people lying with their stomachs to the ground.

One was a young man with red hair and wore a golden crown, while the other was a young woman with light blue hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail. There was one thing that the two had in common with the other, and that was the bazookas that each had strapped to their backs.

Taking a moment (several) to admire the woman's shapely rear, Dante dropped from his elevated position and landed just a few steps behind the two without making a sound.

"Okay, Ms. Wednesday," the male of the two spoke. "The oldman is distracted. Now's our chance to secure the whale. With it, we'll have enough meat to feed the town for several years!"

"Yes, Mr.9," Ms. Wednesday responded. "We can't afford to let this opportunity slip by."

Having heard enough to understand their intent, the devil hunter moved so that he stood in the space between them and spoke up.

"Yeah, Laboon will never know what hit him."

The two nodded in agreement, "Exactly/That's right."

.

.

.

"W-who said that, Ms. Wednesday?"

"I don't know, Mr.9."

With perfect synchronization the two turned to see a pair of boots between then. Slowly, they turned their gaze upwards only to be greeted by white-haired stranger smirking down at them.

"Hi guys."

Their jaws dropping in shock, Ms. Wednesday and Mr.9 felt the world blur around them before suddenly finding themselves sprawled on the ground. Unlike her companion, Ms. Wednesday was able to shake off the sudden motion sickness pretty quickly and looked around to find that the two of them were now in front of the lighthouse and being glared at by Crocus.

"W-What?"

"You two again," Crocus growled out. "How many times am I gonna have to teach you the same lesson? I ain't gonna let you kill Laboon!"

"You know these two?" Zoro, pointedly Ignoring the love struck Sanji, asked the older man.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Crocus let out a long, haggard sigh. "They're rogues from a nearby town. They show up every now and again to try and hunt Laboon for his meat."

"What should we do with them?"

"Gah, just throw them over there somewhere." With that input the green-haired swordsman grabbed the two by their collars and unceremoniously tossed them into the ocean. The two went under the waves for but a second before bobbing back up.

After throwing some threats the Straw Hats' way and promising Crocus that they would return, Ms. Wednesday and Mr.9 swam away with speeds that the veteran devil hunter didn't even think was humanly possible.

"Was that smart?" Nami asked Crocus. "Letting them go like that? They did say that they would be back after all."

"And when they do, I'll deal with them like always." Crocus let out a huff, "Besides, even if I did take care of them, more would come to take their place."

"Uh, guys." Usopp looked around to find that during all the commotion that their captain had disappeared. "Did anyone see where Luffy went?"

"HOOOHHHH!"

All heads turned towards the sound of the screaming just in time to see Luffy bolt past them and climb up the side of the whale, carrying what appeared to be the mast of the Going Merry on his shoulder.

They all craned their necks to see him reach the top of Laboon's heavily scarred head, find what looked like the freshest wound and jam the mast as deep as it could go, earning a large spout of blood in return.

"Did he just do what I think he did?" Silence greeted the hunter.

" **...!? BUOOOHHHHH!** " Laboon thrashed about in agony. Luffy held onto the mast for dear life, hoping that the mast wouldn't dislodge and send him into a watery grave.

Luckily for the young pirate, the mast didn't come loose until Laboon smashed his head against the rocky shore, safely depositing the rubber man away from the water.

"What the hell are you doing kid!?" Crocus roared, being held back by Nami.

"Heh heh," Luffy laughed, looking a bit roughed up and grinning, he threw a punch that knocked the whale back. A blow that Laboon returned in full with a headbutt that sent Luffy crashing into the lighthouse's stone wall.

Rearing his massive head back for another round, Laboon halted when Luffy raised his hand in a stop motion.

"It's a draw," Luffy spoke through grinning teeth, "We're rivals now." Crocus and the rest of the crew could only watch in awe as the young captain talked with the suicidal whale. "Until we settle our fight, you can't go kill yourself. So once my crew sails around the Grand Line, we'll be sure to come back and see you."

Giant tears began to form in Laboon's eyes, understanding exactly what the rubber man was doing.

Luffy gave him the biggest, heartfelt grin that he could muster, "And then we'll duke it out again!"

With fifty years worth of pent up emotions finally allowed to come forth, Laboon raised his head to the sky and let out the loudest bellow they had ever heard. But unlike before, this one wasn't filled with a crushing despair, but hope towards the future.

* * *

"And done." Setting down the giant paint brush that he had procured from seemingly nowhere, Luffy admired the rather crude depiction of their jolly roger he had painted over Laboon's scars. "Now don't go and bash your head against the mountain or it'll come off. You hear?"

" **Buoohh,** " Laboon nodded enthusiastically to the captain.

"Shishishi, good!"

Crocus watched the interaction with a contentful smile. With Laboon no longer hurting himself out of some misguided sense of hope, he could finally be at ease. At least until those rouges showed back up again.

"Hey, the Log Pose is acting up!"

The lighthouse keeper looked to see the one lady in the crew staring at the Log Pose strapped to her wrist with a critiquing gaze.

"Looks like it's starting to pick up a magnetic field." Nami beamed once it settled on a single direction, "Now we be good to go once it settles down."

"I'm surprised," Crocus spoke. "For a group of youngsters you're pretty well prepared for this part of the sea."

Nami rubbed her head sheepishly, "To be honest, we probably would've been in some serious trouble had Dante not told me he was going to a library to research the Grand Line."

The keeper turned to the oldest member of the crew with a look of approval. "Well you all seem to have a good head on your shoulders," he paused as Sanji began to throttle Luffy for eating every last scrap of food that he had prepared for all of them, "well most of you anyway. But hear out an oldman would you?"

The more excitable members of the settled down at his words. "Thank you. Now you may have a Log Pose, but don't think for a minute that your journey has gotten any easier."

"This is the Grand Line. In this ocean, no weakness is tolerated. The currents and winds here are as unpredictable as they can be." He shifted his gaze to Nami, "As navigator, you should understand how terrifying an unpredictable sea can be."

"Now from here your Log Pose will lock onto one of seven magnetic fields, which'll lead you to several different Islands. But know that no matter which it chooses, all paths will eventually converge into one location."

"Raftel, the final stop in the Grand Line." Dante lets out a whistle at the name. "The only crew to ever reach the end was that of the Pirate King. It is an Island of Legends."

The more the man spoke, the more excited the crew became. Even Dante was starting to get into it.

"Does that mean the One Piece is on that Island!?" exclaimed Usopp.

"Who knows," Crocus said with an uncaring shrug. "Though it is the most likely theory, nobody has made it there to confirm it."

"Well then," slamming his hands onto the table Dante pushed himself up, "I guess that means we'll be the first. Isn't that right, Captain?"

"Shishishishi, RIGHT!"

Their little morality boost was interrupted by a nearby explosion, the primary combatants all reaching for their respective weapons.

A hand near the handle of Rebellion, Dante approached the water's edge and peaked over to see the disheveled faces of Ms. Wednesday and Mr.9 looking up at him. For several seconds the three stared at each other in complete silence.

"Pft, it's just you two." The ones in question developed tick marks at his blatant dismissal of their threat level. Taking his hand away from his weapon, Dante offered the two a helping hand, one that they both graciously accepted.

"Well then," He turned his back to them and started heading back towards his crewmates. "You two better head on out before the oldman decides to kick your asses. I'm certain that you're both more than aware of how tough he actually is."

"Hey, wait." Pausing mid step, Dante glanced over his shoulder to see Mr.9 giving him a pleading look. "I have a request."

* * *

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.

.

"So let me get this straight," Nami spoke to the duo, who were prostrating themselves before her captain. "When Zoro tossed you two out, you dropped your Log Pose and now want a ride from us to this, Whisky Peak?"

"Who are you two anyway," questioned Usopp. "Ms. Wednesday and Mr.9 can't be your real names."

"We can't say. We really don't want to be all hush-hush about things, but 'mystery' is our organizations motto," explained Ms. Wednesday. "If we tell you anymore than that we'll both be in serious trouble with our boss."

Dante turned to Crocus, his brow raised, "What do you think? You know these two better than any of us."

"I wouldn't listen to them," he said without a moment of hesitation. "They're more trouble than they're worth."

"They can tag along if they want," Luffy suddenly stated, leaving no room for argument.

"Whelp," with one arm thrown over each of their shoulders, Dante lead their new passengers towards the now repaired Going Merry. "Looks like today's your lucky day. Welcome aboard the S.S. Going Merry!" he exclaimed, shooting Ms. Wednesday a wink.

Despite her best efforts, the Bluette couldn't stop the coloring of her cheeks.

Luckily for both parties, Crocus was kind enough to exchange Nami's Log Pose with one that was already set for Whisky Peak.

"Thanks for all the info flower gramps," Luffy waved to Crocus and Laboon. "We'll see you again when we finish our journey!"

" **BUOOOHHHH,** " Laboon dove under the water, making sure to create a large wave that shoved the Merry away from the mountain as an added boost.

"I see...take care Straw Hats!" Crocus continued to wave, only ceasing once the crew were well out of sight. They certainly were a strange group of pirates. The one with white hair seemed strangely familiar though.

For some reason, Crocus felt he had met him before. Maybe from his time as the Doctor of Gold D. Roger's crew. He banished the notion as quickly as it came. That had been over fifty years ago, well past his time as a pirate.

"Regardless." Turning on his heels Crocus grabbed a newspaper and relaxed into his lawn chair, "Perhaps they're the pirates that we've been waiting for...what do you think...eh, Roger?"

 **-End-**

Zrocker119: **Well the crew have officially made arrived on the Grand Line! Things will be getting pretty interesting from here on out.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Zrocker119:** **Been a long time coming, but I finally got off my lazy ass. To make up for the delay, I made this chapter longer than usual.**

 **-A True Devil on the High Seas-**

 **-Start-**

Now, Dante's a man that had experienced many things throughout his life.

He survived Mundus' assassination attempt when he was just a child, carved out a living as a mercenary that operated from the infamous Bobby's Cellar, at least until his disguised brother unleashed horde of demons that massacred everyone.

Was defeated by Vergil at the top of the Temnen-ni-gru, only to return stronger than ever and beat his older twin's ass. Then around a decade later Trish rode a motorcycle through his front doors and the whole Mallet Island fiasco happened.

Still irked Dante something fierce that he was unable to actually kill the bastard that had robbed him of both his mother and brother, only managing to seal him away once again.

Couple more years go by and Dante learns that his dear older brother was apparently better with the ladies than he gave him credit. Apparently before their reunion, Vergil had knocked up a lady, and Dante's sweet nephew Nero was the result.

Chaos, tragedy and a bit of hilarious encounters ensued and Dante walked away from Fortuna knowing that the Sparda legacy was in good hands.

Then the whole ordeal on Vie de Marli that ended with him being stuck in the belly of the underworld for nearly ten years.

So to say that Dante had seen and dealt with some shit would be one of the biggest understatements of the century. But everything that he had experience, in some shape of form, was due to his father's decisions to save humanity.

"DANTE! THERE'S ANOTHER ONE COMING!"

"I'm on it!"

But Dante could very easily say that his father had nothing to do with the absolute shit show that he and the rest of the Straw Hats were currently going through.

The sound of Ebony and Ivory firing in rapid succession filled the air followed by the sight of an enormous chunk of hail, large enough to sink the Merry, exploding into harmless flakes of snow.

Everything had been going well. Their course for Whisky Peak was set, the skies were clear and there was a gentle breeze. There couldn't have been a more perfect day to set sail.

And then it had begun to snow. While strange at first, as Nami had seen nothing in the weather to suggest the potential for snow fall, the crew all shrugged it off. How was a little snow going to bar their path?

That mentality had been shattered when a ship sized hunk of hail almost capsized the Merry.

Now the waves were tossing them about, the wind kept shifting directions faster than they could keep up, Nami was spouting commands left and right to try and keep them on course.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS OCEAN!?"

* * *

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.

.

"Come on everyone. I know the weather's nice and all but aren't you all being a bit lazy?" Zorro asked upon waking up, just as the ocean and all the mayhem finally settled. The green-haired swordsman had managed to sleep his way through the whole mess.

"Well at least someone was able to get their beauty sleep," Dante quipped from his spot against the mast. While the surprise storm and the shenanigans that followed had initially caught him by surprise, the devil hunter had more than enough stamina to keep pace with the shifting seas.

He was just glad that no one had gotten tossed overboard. It would've been a pain to have to go diving in such cold water.

"So what's up with these two," Zorro knelt in front of their temporary passengers. "Don't recall why they're on our ship."

"We're heading to their town," Luffy explained. Along with Dante, the captain was the only other one not completely exhausted from keeping the Merry afloat. "So I figured it was alright to give them a ride."

Zoro eyed both Mr. Nine and Ms. Wednesday with a critical gaze. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but the two names seemed familiar for all the wrong reasons. Before he could think on it further a fist planted itself at the top of his skull.

"You have a nice nap there?" a rather deranged looking Nami questioned with a shaking fist. "We couldn't seem to wake you no matter how hard we tried. And oh, did we try."

The next moment, Zoro was left laid flat on the deck as Nami walked way with a steaming fist.

"Don't let your guard down," she ordered. "This sea is much more than I expected and I still don't quite understand it myself."

Usopp felt sweat drip down his neck at her declaration. "Are we going to be alright?"

His answer came in the form of Dante smacking him on the back. "Relax long nose. I'm sure our navigator will have this joint figured out like the back of her hand."

Nami couldn't help but preen at the confidence in her skills. "You can bet your life on it. And as proof..." She looked out towards an approaching Island. "It looks like the first leg of our journey is over."

"Oh, so that's Whisky Peak!" Luffy was in awe as their ship grew closer, staring in wonder at the Island that was dotted with what appeared to be giant cacti.

"Thank goodness we arrived alive." The Mr. and Ms. duo both let out sighs of relief before leaping onto the ship's railing. "Thank you for bringing us this far, but we must ask that you let us off here."

"If fate allows it, then we'll meet again. Bye bye!" And with that the dynamic duo rocketed overboard and swam towards land at speeds that even the Going Merry couldn't match.

"...They did know that we're stopping at the Island right?" questioned Dante, failing to understand why they chose to swim the rest of the way instead of doing the obvious thing and just stayed on the ship.

Nami shrugged, "Just forget about them. I see a river up ahead that we can use to dock inland. Let's use this time to prepare."

"Prepare for what?" Usopp suddenly had a worried look. "You don't think that there could be m-monsters on this island, do you?"

"Considering that we've run into a giant whale and a freak snow storm within a day," Sanji said as he took a drag of his cigarette. "I'd say that the chances are pretty high."

Before Usopp could begin to truly panic, an arm snaked its way around his shoulder. "Don't worry about it," Luffy gave him a toothy grin, "if that's the case then we can just take off!"

"Did you idiots forget already?" Nami tapped the Log Pose. "This needs to record the Island's magnetic field. If we leave before it finishes, we'd be sailing completely blind."

Dante tilted his head in askance, "Any idea how long that'll take?"

"Hours, days even. It varies from Island to Island."

"So we've got no choice but to enter and hope things don't go south," the devil hunter crossed his arms and smirked. Sounded like a regular old day at the office to him.

"Sounds like fun!" Luffy hopped up onto the ship's figurehead. "Let's head up the river!"

The crew shared a look before all of them, with the exception being Usopp who was trying desperately to convince everyone that he had somehow developed a disease that prevented him from getting near the unknown Island, gave a collective shrug. The captain had made up his mind and they all knew that there would be no changing it.

Just in case though, they all prepared for the worst case scenario and had a hand near their respective weapons. To make matters worse, a heavy fog had rolled in, reducing the visibility to almost zero.

As they went deeper the pirate crew began to hear shouting, accompanied by humanoid figures that could barely be made out.

Once the fog cleared however, the tension was shattered by the sight of what appeared to be a welcoming party that consisted of the entire town, complete with a banner and music.

"WELCOME PIRATES, TO THE TOWN OF WELCOMING! WHISKEY PEAK!"

"W-whaaaat?" Dante, Nami and Zoro were understandably confused by such a grand reception. Luffy and the others, however, were eating the attention up, waving to the townsfolk with huge grins stretched across their faces.

Awaiting their arrival at the dock was a tall man that wore a three piece suit and had his hair done in large curls, resembling a powdered wig.

"Welc-ahem, ma-ma-maa~. Welcome. My name is Igarappoi, and I understand if you're confused by the welcome," the man introduced himself. "But Whisky Peak is a town of liquor and music. You could say that hospitality is our middle name!"

"And as such, I cordially invite you brave adventurers to join our banquette!"

"..."

"GLADLY!"

The three cooler headed members of the crew, but not by much in Dante's case, could only face palm at the other three immediately agreeing to attend.

* * *

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.

.

The sun had long since fallen and the moon had risen, but the town was abuzz with activities of which the Straw Hats were happily taking part of.

Luffy was eating his fill of food, Zoro and Nami had started up a drinking game, Sanji was flirting with every woman he could find and Usopp was wowing the townsfolk with his grand and _totally_ legit exploits as the crew captain.

The only one not currently partying themselves into a drunken stupor was Dante, who had decided to slip away from the partying in order to find a private place to relieve himself.

Finished taking care of his business he stepped out from behind a boulder just outside the edge of town. Rather than head back though, the white-haired man decided that he had had enough for the moment, using this opportunity to sober up a bit.

"These people might be a bit strange, but they're not too bad." Running a hand through his hair, Dante let out a quiet sigh. Somebody was watching him. Acting casually he picked up a pebble, leisurely tossing it up before flicking it with bullet-like velocity at the nearest giant cactus.

There was a flicker of movement so miniscule that even Dante would've missed it had he not actively been looking for it. "Gotch ya." The devil hunter took off, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake, heading further and further away from town.

Only seconds passed before he reached the cactus and, without losing his stride, started to ascend it. As he climbed higher Dante came to a startling realization. What surrounded the town weren't cacti, but giant mounds of stone, and what he had assumed to be thorns were actual grave stones.

Creepy revelations aside, he still had to catch up to his mystery watcher. He had almost reached the area where he had first thrown the stone, when something unexpected happened.

Just as he began to slow town, something snagged his boot. Even though he hadn't been going at his top speed, Dante was still carrying enough momentum to send him tumbling head over heels.

Rather than panic however, the devil hunter just rolled with it...quite literally in this case. When he finally came to a stop, he had managed to do so in a way that resulted with him lying on his side and with his head being propped up by his arm.

"Well then," Dante said from his relaxed position, taking in the appearance of the person that leaned casually against one of the many graves. "You're not quite what I was expecting, but this I like."

Rather than some creep like he had been expecting, it was instead a very beautiful woman.

With extra emphasis on the word beautiful.

She was very tall, nearly as tall as Dante himself, and slender with shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes with wide pupils. Her skin was a slightly darker shade of tan that meshed well with her revealing cowgirl outfit. The purple corset and miniskirt combination certainly earned a low whistle of appreciation from the devil hunter.

Her white, fur lined coat and cowboy hat were just icing on the cake.

"You lost beautiful, 'cause the party is happening all the way down there." He gestured back the way he came. "Unless you don't like parties? If that's the case then I wouldn't mind spending some time here with you."

It had been awhile since he was around a beautiful woman to flirt with. Not that he didn't find his female crewmate attractive, but once he learned that he was thirty years Nami's senior, Dante immediately decided that that was an avenue he wouldn't be exploring.

Despite what people said about him back home he did in fact have standards.

The woman merely smiled at his blatant attempt to flirt, though it was one that Dante could see didn't reach her eyes. She crossed her arms in an X-fashion and his line of sight was momentarily filled with cherry blossom petals.

When his vision cleared the devil hunter quirked a brow when he saw that the woman was now seated on what appeared to be a chair made out of limbs. Given how she wasn't creeped out by their appearance, it was safe to assume that she was the one that made them appear.

What were the odds of him coming across an even stranger devil fruit user than Luffy?

Feeling something sharp press against his back, Dante let out a sigh.

"Not really sure what I did to warrant being held at knife point." She must have tossed the knife over when his vision was obscured by the flower petals.

"You did throw a stone at me." Reaching into her coat the woman pulled out a book and started reading. "With how fast it was going, it could've reduced my head to nothing more than a cloud of mist had it actually hit."

Well then...that was unnecessarily morbid.

"Well looks like its a good thing I wasn't trying to injure, just spook." Despite the looming threat of literally getting stabbed in the back, Dante did what he could to get comfortable. "Seeing as you've got me in quite the pickle, you gonna at least give me a name?"

She turned to the next page, "You first, Mr. Red coat."

Whether she called him that due to his coat, or due to his bounty was up for debate.

"Name's Dante. Devil hunter extraordinaire and all around badass."

The woman's gaze momentarily shot up before returning to the pages before her. It was a blink and you miss moment, but Dante's trained eyes caught it.

"An interesting title." She sent him false smile. "You may call me Ms. All Sunday."

"Ah, codenames huh?" Dante spoke, now leaning over her shoulder. "Wouldn't happen to be acquainted with anyone by the names Mr.9 and Ms. Wednesday, would you?"

Though she did well not to show surprise, Ms. All Sunday was completely caught off guard by his sudden display of speed. "They're soon to be...former, coworkers of mine."

"Former huh?" Dante ignored the third arm that sprouted from his shoulder, even as it grabbed a spare dagger from within her coat and threatened to cut open his throat and cupped his chin in thought. "While they were a bit annoying, I can't really see what they could've done to get fired?"

"It's none of your concern." Another false smile, but one that was much more wary of him than before. His blatant disregard of the threat that was literally a single muscle twitch away from opening his throat threw Ms. Sunday off.

And she could tell that it wasn't false bravado that most pirates put up when in the face of death. He truly didn't care that his life was in the hands of a stranger.

"So," Dante turned around to look at the view provided by the height of which they were at, noting that during his absence that the partying had seemed to finally die down. "What are you waiting all the way up here for?"

"A few coworkers of mine will be arriving shortly." Another page turned, "I'm merely here to ensure that they do their jobs."

"Hmm." From this vantage point Dante could see a commotion going on in the center of town. This observation was further supported by sounds of fighting and gunfire. "Oh boy. Wonder which of the crew started all of this?"

Though he couldn't see her, Dante could hear the amusement in Ms. Sundays tone. "Didn't you know? This is a town filled with nothing but bounty hunters."

Explosions lit up the town as the fighting intensified. Dante could only just make out the familiar appearance of his green-haired crewmate tearing through what he now knew to be bounty hunters with ease.

Now, Dante knew that humans of this dimension were tough but even so, this was taking things to another level. Zoro was displaying capabilities of speed and strength that were about on par with himself back before his devil heritage was truly awakened.

The possibilities brought a smirk to his lips. Just how strong would they all become?

A flicker of movement near the edge of town, away from the fight, caught his attention. "Hey," he gave Ms. Sunday a tap on the shoulder. "You mind removing the third arm? I kinda want to go and get a piece of this, but I would like to do so with the normal amount of limbs."

Finally turning away from her book, the woman gave him a blank look. At this point she was more than aware that he was just being courteous and could've left whenever he so pleased, but since he was being nice about it...

Taking her dagger back, the hand disappeared in a small flurry of petals. "Have fun," she said before returning back to her book.

With a two finger salute, Dante kicked into the night sky. He had a feeling he wouldn't want to miss what happened next.

* * *

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.

.

Their secret had been found out.

Vivi wasn't sure as to how the agents of Baroque Works had learned the truth of her identity, but now wasn't the time nor place to figure out when her and Igaram slipped up. Now the princess of Alabasta had to deal with the two assassins that were currently chasing her down.

The only reason that she hadn't been killed yet was due to the speed of her feathery friend Karoo. The large, spot-billed duck had done an amazing job at keeping ahead of Mr. Five and Ms. Valentine, but it would only a matter of time before they caught up to the two.

The ground beneath Karoo's feet suddenly erupted in a fiery explosion, causing her mount to trip and send Vivi flying off the saddle and into the air. Arms flailing about, Vivi attempted to recover but it was all for naught as she crashed painfully into the dark dirt.

Shaking off the dizziness clouding her mind, a cry left her lips when Karoo's unconscious body landed beside her. "Karoo!" Crawling over she took her friend's head into her lap. "Wake up Karoo! I can't make it without you!"

"Q-quack," came his weak response.

"About time I hit that bird." Vivi glared at the trench coat wearing Mr. Five that approached the fallen duo, his parasol wielding partner stepping up beside him. "Good thing those two idiots were too busy fighting each other. Would've been a pain to deal with them should they have gotten in our way."

"Kyahahahaha, not that they would've been able to do much," quipped Ms. Valentine, twirling her parasol about before snapping it open and leaping incredibly high into the air. "With my Kilo Kilo no Mi fruit, I'll turn you into nothing but a red stain!"

"Or I can just blow you up," Mr. Five offered, a finger digging up his nose, "Doesn't matter which cause you'll die either way."

Though she kept on a brave front, Vivi was scared out of her mind. All of her and Igaram's hard work was about to be undone, and no-one would be all the wiser about what was truly happening back at her home.

An approaching shadow was the only warning that was given before somebody dropped in, literally. Like an angel descending from heaven's a familiar man clad in red landed directly in front of the panicking princess, who let out a cute "eep!" of surprise.

"Now I may not know exactly what's going on here, but I think the lady does not want to die tonight," Dante said cheerfully, having heard most of what was said while falling. His sword quickly found its way to his hand and swiped the space in front of him, bisecting the projectile that had been fired by the man across from him.

The devil hunter made a gagging sound as he realized that what he had thought to be a bullet or rock he had just cut, was in fact a booger.

"Dude! What the hell was that!?" Mr. Five didn't have time to reply as Dante appeared before him and slapped him aside with the flat of Rebellion. The assassin was little more than a blur as he disappeared into a nearby building, erupted out the other end and kept on going.

"Now I'm gonna have to give Rebellion extra attention during my next cleaning session," he commented while absent mindedly sticking an outstretched palm above him, directly in the path of Ms. Valentine's surprise attack.

Rather than crush stranger that had interrupted their assignment as she had intended, the lemon themed agent was shocked to see him to catch her with absolutely no effort, the only evidence of her ability being the cracking concrete under his feet.

Ms. Valentine had changed her weight to 10,000kg and his arm didn't even budge a little!

"Batter up!" Dante tossed the woman into the air before swinging his sword like a baseball bat. Ms. Valentine only had a second to register the flat of the blade connecting with her bottom before being launched into the horizon, becoming little more than a twinkling light in the distance.

"And that's a homerun!" Spinning Rebellion stylishly on his finger and placing his most trusted weapon on his back, he turned his attention to to gobsmacked bluette and her unconscious duck.

"...So, mind telling me what all of that was about?"

"DANTE!"

The one in question looked over his shoulder to see Nami approaching him. Zoro and Luffy followed close behind her, though both were sporting massive bumps on their craniums.

"Hey," Dante gave them a lazy wave. "Any idea what's going on? I was hitting it off with this sexy lady when the party suddenly got a little bit crazy. What happened to those two?"

A slight twitch of the brow was the only indicator that Nami was annoyed with red themed the devil hunter, but she shoved that aside for now and instead turned to the only other woman present with a sickly sweet smile.

"Well at least you're safe. I would've hated it if my score of one billion berries slipped away."

Dante and Vivi were both confused by this statement, evident by the two of them tilting their heads, but for completely different reasons.

"The heck are you on about?"

* * *

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The Straw Hats, minus Sanji and Usopp, made themselves comfortable whilst Vivi, who had revealed that she was in fact the Princess to the desert kingdom of Alabasta. After hearing a rumor about the bounty hunter organization known as Baroque Works and how they may be responsible for instigating the revolution that had thrown the normally peaceful country into chaos, she alongside her loyal bodyguard and caretaker infiltrated the organization.

"After working our way up the ranks, Igaram and I were eventually able to learn their true objective of creating an ideal nation." Vivi's hand were visibly shaking with frustration as she spoke.

"...They want to take over your home, don't they?" For once Dante spoke without any of his usual teasing tone. He let out a quiet sigh at the princess' nod.

"Well, that explains why you don't want to enter a contract with us." Nami couldn't fault Vivi for her decision, for she knew all too well what it was like to have the fate of one's home resting on their shoulders.

Luffy, seemingly unable to read the mood, asks with a carefree smile. "So who's the boss dude anyways?"

"Don't ask me that!" Vivi's rather loud refusal caught them off guard. "Trust me when I tell you that you're better off not knowing!"

Nami gave a small laugh, "Yeah, you can just keep that information to-"

The sound of metallic ting interrupted her. All eyes turned to Dante, who's gaze was currently locked onto the coin that he had tossed into the air. Catching in he slapped it to the back of his palm. Lifting his hand, he looked at the coin and a smirk made its way to his lips.

"Whelp," Pocketing the coin he looked to Vivi. "I've always wanted to help a princess...I'm in. If that's alright with you Captain?"

Luffy gave him a wided, tooth filled smile. "Sounds like fun! We'll help you!"

"Well if the Captain's alright with it," Zoro fastened his swords to his waist, giving them a small tug to make sure that they were properly secured. "So, who's the big bad that your all worried about?"

"No," Nami let out a sigh of relief at the princess's refusal. "You pirates may be exceptionally strong for just starting out, but you'd be no match for Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the sea!"

.

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.

Vivi looked absolutely mortified at the major slip up, Nami's jaw seemed to unhinge and her eyes went white with terror, Luffy had a goofy smile, while Zoro looked about a second away from facepalming, and Dante simply looked confused.

A feather fell on Dante's shoulder, prompting him to look up and see what appeared to be a vulture wearing sunglasses and an otter dressed in a polka dot onesie staring down at the group. The duo shared a look before the otter hopped on the birds back and flew away.

"...What the heck just happened?"

The devil hunters question went unanswered as Nami stomped her way over to Vivi, grabbed the princess by her coat and viciously shook her. "Just what were those two just now!? Are they reporting back to your boss and telling him that we know his secret!?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Vivi kept repeating like a mantra. "That accidently slipped out!"

"Saying sorry over and over doesn't make it any better!" The orange-haired navigator broke down comically, "We've been on the Grand Line for less than a week and we're already on a Warlord's hit list!"

"I know." Zoro let out a chuckle, "I can't believe we're this lucky."

"I wonder what kind of person he is?" Luffy posed.

"You two shut up!" Nami shouted and stomped down the road.

"Nami, where are you going?" Dante called after her, "You're not leaving, are you?"

"Yep! They don't know my face yet, so bye everybody! It was fun while it lasted!" She took a few more steps before seeing the otter and bird from before standing in the middle of the road. The otter scribbled something down on the notepad in its paws before flipping it around to show Nami four, highly detailed pictures of the present Straw Hat crew.

Despite the situation at hand, Nami couldn't help but be impressed with the little critters talent. "Wow, you're really good!" The otter accepted the praise before taking off once again.

"Now I can't run away!" Nami shouted, marching angrily back towards her crewmates.

Dante, having enough of being left out of the know how, spoke up. "Okay, can someone please explai-"

"Looks like the four of us are on Baroque Works hit list." Zoro's grin was only surpassed by Luffy's. Nami meanwhile was now seated on the ground, a cloud of depression hanging over her head while Vivi tried in vain to comfort the young woman.

Dante almost felt like ripping his hair out. "Who's this Crocodile guy, and why is he such a big deal!?"

"Worry not. Everything wi- Ma Ma Maa~, it will be alright!" Dante most certainly didn't jump when the Igara-something guy that greeted them suddenly appeared right beside him. And why was he dressed in the exact same clothes as Vivi? Cause it was safe to say that the young woman pulled the look off a hell of a lot better.

Vivi was just as surprised as the rest of them, "Igaram? What's with that outfit?"

"Ah, so this isn't a normal occurrence." Little did Dante know of just how wrong he was.

"Never mind about that," Igaram ignored the query sent at him. "Once they learn of what happened here, Baroque Works will send more of their agents to pursue you Princess. As for your question Mr. Red Coat, back in his heyday as a pirate, Crocodile had managed to accumulate a bounty of 80 Million berries. He is a very dangerous man."

"F-four times Arlong's bounty," as if Nami wasn't frightened enough. Now she had a number to put on the man that would be hunting them.

Igaram paid the distraught woman no mind, "But before anything else, I must know if you've agreed to escort the Princess back to Alabasta."

Luffy gave the royal protector an enthusiastic nod, "Yep!"

"Even if we didn't," Dante lazilly waved over at Vivi, "Princess here let the big secret slip, so we'd be hunted down regardless." A slight whimper emanated from Nami at the reminder.

Igaram nodded solemnly, "While that is unfortunate, I can't help but be relieved that such a capable group will be looking after her. With that said, please hand me the eternal Pose to Alabasta, Princess."

Pulling herself together, Nami cocked her head at the sight of Vivi handing over what looked like a fancier log pose. "Uhm, what's an eternal pose?"

"It's a log pose that's needle if forever locked onto a single island." He held it out for her to observe. "This one happens to be locked onto our home. With me disguised as the princess and a hand full of dummies, I'll take the direct route to Alabasta. Hopefully it'll be enough to throw off your pursuers, for a little while at least."

"While I'm doing that, you'll have to take the normal route. While I've never done it myself, there should be only two or three Islands along the way."

* * *

.

.

.

It didn't take long for Igaram to load up the decoy ship. Once stocked with enough provisions he bid Vivi one last fare well and wished them safe travels. A feeling that was shared between them all.

The gathered Straw Hats and their new charge waved goodbye as Igaram's ship sailed into the horizon, growing smaller and smaller. It was only when they turned to gather their two remaining members, that night turned into day.

Dante, Luffy, Nami and Zoro spun around and stared in varying degrees of shock and horror at the ship and surrounding sea which was now enveloped in an inferno.

Luffy was the first to turn away with a look of grim determination. "He was a fine man! Let's hurry up and get going!"

"The Log!?"

"All set!"

The three took off, with Nami pausing momentarily when she saw that Dante and Vivi had yet to move. "Vivi! Dante! We-" She paused when she noticed that the devil hunter place a hand on their charges shoulder.

"We'll get you home safe, Vivi," Dante could feel her trembling, ready to let her emotions explode. 'That's this Devil's promise.'

Nami, knowing that the oldest member of their crew was more than capable of keeping Vivi safe, ran to catch up to the others. Had she looked for just a second longer though, she would've caught Dante's shadow shifting between that of a man, and that of a demons. Just like it did back in her hometown.

* * *

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.

After gathering Usopp and Sanji, and the princesses pet duck, the Straw Hats and co quickly set sail on the Merry. Heeding Vivi's instructions, they headed down river, following it all the way to the other side of the island where it leads into the open ocean.

"The fog is lifting," Nami noted. "It must be close to morning."

"Make sure you don't crash into the rocks near shore. This part of the Island is notorious for sinking ships." All heads turned to see a woman that none but two of the present members recognized casually sitting on the upper railing. "And congratulations on your escape."

Vivi felt the sweat roll down her neck, "W-what are you doing here, Ms. All Sunday!?"

The cowgirl themed woman just gave her a mocking smile, "Ah Ms. Wednesday, I should tell you that I met with Mr. Eight not that long ago…"

"I-it was you wasn't it!" Vivi cried, "You're the one that-that did that to Igaram!"

"Guilty."

"What are you doing on our ship?" Luffy was completely oblivious to the current atmosphere. "Is she a good guy?"

Nami slowly reached for her collapsible staff. "So she with Baroque Works. Whose partner is she?"

"She's partnered with Mr. Zero and she's the only one who knows his identity," Vivi explained. "That was the reason why Igaram and I tailed her."

"Technically, I let the two of you tail me," Ms. Sunday smiled at the princesses angered expression. "It was too amusing to watch you, a single princess, try and take down an entire organization in order to save a dying kingdom."

Vivi's expression became downright murderous, "It's because of you and your boss that my home is dying."

There was a rush of movement, and Ms. Sunday was suddenly flanked on either side by Usopp and Sanji, the latter of which was armed with a pistol. It wasn't just them though. Nami had assembled her staff and Zoro had one of his blades halfway drawn.

Even Vivi had pulled out her Peacock slashers. The only ones who had yet to move were Luffy and Dante.

"I may not know exactly what's going on," Sanji cocked back the hammer, "But even I can tell that you're a threat to my lovely Ms. Wednesday."

Ms. Sunday did nothing but sigh at the threat. What happened next confused all but one. "Could you please," Sanji and Usopp suddenly found themselves being thrown onto the deck, "not point those at me? I didn't come to fight."

While a majority of the Straw Hats were trying to figure out what the hell had just happened, Ms. Sunday noticed that Dante had disappeared from her view... and why did her head suddenly feel lighter?

"Well don't keep us in the dark." It took everything to keep her features schooled when Dante spoke, who now leaned against the railing right beside her. On the plus side, she had learned why she could feel the breeze better.

Dante cooly spun her stolen hat on his finger before placing it on his head, pushing it up slightly so that the rim didn't hide his gaze. "So then, why are you here if not to taunt us into starting a fight? Could it be that you just wanted to see this sexy mug again."

"Not at all." Dante didn't appear all that hurt by her blatant rejection. "Just wanted to meet the unfortunate, small time pirates that were stuck with looking after a princess that's being targeted by Baroque Works. Not only that, but a Princess having to trust herself to said pirates."

"But despite all that, the most unfortunate thing in this entire situation is the destination that your log pose is leading you towards." Holding her hand out, Dante stared for a moment before smirked and handed her hat back over. "Thank you."

With her hat back where it belonged she continued, "The Island that you're heading towards is known as Little Garden. Our organization won't even have to lay a finger on you. That place will take care of you all by itself."

"Can't be any worse than what we've already dealt with," Luffy shrugged, completely unafraid and more than a little irked that she was calling them weak. As if they would die this early into their journey.

"Anyone can put up a brave front." Reaching into her coat, Ms. Sunday tossed Dante an eternal log pose.

"Ah, you got me a present!"

She just put on the same, fake smile as before. "That will let you skip over many of the more troublesome islands and take you to one that's right before Alabasta. Not only that, none but myself know about its route, so Baroque works won't be able to tail you."

"...It's probably a trap." Zoro's remark earned him a coy smile from the woman.

Before anyone could converse and come to a decision on what to do, Luffy's arm stretched out and snatched the pose from Dante's grasp.

"Don't you dare," Crushing the life altering device without a second thought, the Straw Hat wearing boy pinned Ms. All Sunday with a glare that could make the fiercest of sea kings turn tail and run. "Think that you get to decide that path of our journey!"

"Luffy," Nami roared in his ear, "That could've saved us so much trouble!"

"Don't care."

While they bickered amongst themselves, Ms. All Sunday watched with an amused expression. "I see. While your stubbornness to accept my help is unfortunate, I can't say that I don't like bold men. Hopefully you'll survive the journey and we can meet again."

Walking over to the side of the Merry, Ms. All Sunday hopped over and onto the back of a giant turtle that was treading water beside the ship. How none of them had noticed a giant, cigar smoking turtle until then was beyond them.

Making herself comfortable, she went to adjust her hat, only to feel something attached to it. Grabbing it Ms. All Sunday came face to face with a rose that she was certain wasn't there just moments before.

Glancing over her shoulder she spied Dante leaning against the railing. With a flick of his wrist he summoned an identical rose. Twirling it between his fingers, he brought it up to his nose for a sniff, before tossing it in her direction where it burst into motes of red light.

Sending him a coy smile, she gave her rose an experimental sniff. Finding it to be a regular flower, Ms. All Sunday saw no reason to toss it away and tucked it back where she found it.

Before, the man known as Red Coat had her curiosity, but after everything she had witnessed, he and the rest of his crew now had her attention.

 **-End-**

 **Zrocker119: Leave a review if you enjoyed. Any sort of feed back helps keep me motivated. Till next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Zrocker119:** **Hope this chapter provides a bit of entertainment for those of you that are self isolating. Stay safe and health everyone. Especially during these trying times.**

 **-A True Devil on the High Seas-**

 **-Start-**

The trip to Little Garden was smooth sailing, for the most part. There was a small bit where the crew had been chased by a dolphin roughly twenty times the size of the Merry, but other than that everything was the usual.

With the exception being that the Straw Hats had two extra passengers Vivi and Carue.

For the princess of Alabasta however, everything was all _but_ fine, and despite reassuring herself that the crew was more than capable of being serious when it was required of them, Vivi couldn't stop worry from creeping into her heart.

The main fighters of this pirate crew were strong, of that she had no doubt. Not just anyone could defeat a numbered member of Baroque Works after all. 'But even so,' Vivi thought as she watched Luffy and Usopp goof around on the deck, while Zoro was napping against the mast. 'They don't know what we're going up against like I do.'

A glass being shoved in her face brought Vivi out of her thoughts. Looking to her left she saw Nami sipping on a fruity drink. Seeing that the glass being offered was identical to it, she accepted it with a small smile.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Nami responded with a smile of her own. "You looked like you could use a little pick me up. You were thinking about your home, weren't you?"

Vivi's smile fell a bit. "Was it that obvious?"

"Call it an educated guess based on personal experience," Nami said, taking a sip of her drink.

"Oh." Vivi turned her gaze downward, not quite sure how to respond to that.

"I know better than most what it's like to carry the weight that you're dealing with." Nami turned to face her, a bright smile on her face. "But unlike me, you're willing to put trust in others to help shoulder the burden. So while I won't tell you not to worry, I will say that you can afford to relax a bit."

"I'd listen to her." Vivi jumped at Dante suddenly speaking off to her right. She turned to see the red clad pirate casually leaning against the railing. How did he get there without either her or Nami hearing him?

"I know that they don't look part, but this odd bunch are some of the most badass people around. So relax and let yourself live a little bit."

Vivi pondered their words. After a few moments of silence, she allowed a small smile to slip on out. They were both right. Until they reached her home, there was nothing that she could do to halt what was already happening.

So until the time came for her to step up and end it all...she would allow herself to relax...just a bit.

"Thank you. Both of you. I-I really needed to hear that." With renewed vigor, Vivi took a long drink. It really was delicious.

Nami watched the slightly younger woman with a kind smile, glad that she was able to help lighten what was clearly a stressful load. Her smile didn't last for long however as she saw Dante's expression.

He sported a serious frown as he stared out over the sea. The number of times she had seen the oldest member of the crew without his confident smirk could be counted on one hand.

"Hey, Nami?" He pointed into the distance. "Is that where the Log Pose is pointing?"

Facing the direction he gestured to, Nami had to squint in order to see the Island in the distance. Checking the Log Pose she saw that the needle was pointing directly at it. "Looks like it. Why?"

Dante didn't respond right away. He continued to stare at the landmass for what felt like an eternity when his smirk returned in full force. But there was something slightly off about it that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Oh, no reason." And like that he was back to normal. "Just got a feeling is all."

Nami didn't know why, but something about how he said that sent a shiver down her spine. If something on that Island had Dante excited, then it was something she wanted to avoid.

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* * *

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the Island. Sailing up a river that connected to the sea, the Straw Hats and company could see nothing but thick, luscious jungle on either side. That fact that it appeared to be made up of plants that none of them had ever seen before only added to the mystery of it all.

"Just who decided to call this place Little Garden?" questioned Nami. Nothing about this place screamed little.

As she spoke, a guttural roar echoed from the forest, causing the more easily frightened members to shriek in terror. From the jungle stepped out the largest tiger that any of them had ever seen, easily being several times larger than any normal tiger ought to be. It took one more step before collapsing in a bloody heap, leaving Nami and Usopp shaking in their boots.

"This is not a normal jungle!" cried Nami.

Usopp nodded alongside their navigator. "It's decided then. We are not leaving this ship."

There was silence for a grand total of five seconds before it was shattered by Luffy literally vibrating in place with sheer excitement. "Sanji, make me a pirate lunch box! I smell adventure!"

Nami all but broke down into tears at his declaration, she knew that once Luffy made up his mind that there was no way to disway him. So much for them just waiting on the ship until the Pose was set.

"Actually, can I come with you?" Vivi piped up unexpectedly. "I could use a distraction from everything that's happened."

"I'll make you lunch as well Vivi~!" Sanji sang, turning into a literal tornado before disappearing into the kitchen to prepare said meals.

Vivi couldn't help but giggle at the cook's antics. Looking around at all the others the princess frowned in confusion when she noticed that there was someone missing.

"Hey everyone, where'd Dante go?"

Confusion spread through the Straw Hat crew as they came to the same conclusion as Vivi. Dante was gone. Spotting a piece of paper near the spot that Dante had last been seen, Zoro picked it up to find that it was a note.

"Went to check up on a hunch. If you need my assistance, be sure to scream very loudly...looking at you Usopp."

"Hey!"

"What?" Zoro flipped the paper around and pointed at the line he just read. "Literally says that right here."

The sniper's became crestfallen at being singled out like that, a dark cloud forming over his head.

"Does the note mention what this hunch of his was about?" questioned Nami. Given how their interaction had been thus far, it was pretty unusual for Dante to just take off without saying anything.

"Nope." Zoro crumpled the note, tossing it aside. "I wouldn't worry about him. He's proven that he's more than capable of taking care of himself."

Luffy sat down, his legs crossed and holding his chin in thought. After a moment he broke out into his signature grin. "Looks like Dante smelled adventure before I did! Sanji! Is lunch ready!? I wanna catch up to the old man!"

"Almost! Be patient!"

Nami rubbed her temple, the makings of a headache coming along. Dut despite that, a small smile played on her lips. Leave it to her crew to take something like this in stride.

Her thoughts drifted back to the look Dante had been sporting earlier, right as Little Garden had come into view. It had been brief, but she had seen a flash of concern in his eyes. But not for his well being, but rather for their own.

Just what could get that kind of reaction out of him?

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* * *

"So...this place has dinosaurs...cool!" Dante spoke merrily as he ran along the back of a massive sauropod, the animal ignored his presence as it grazed on prehistoric ferns. The Devil hunter, while initially caught in boyish awe by the appearance of the giant lizards, didn't let himself get distracted.

The feeling he first had out at sea had only grown stronger and stronger the deeper he moved into the Island. Coming to a stop on top of his mount's head, Dante had an amazing view of his surroundings, being able to see everything for miles in all directions. In fact he was pretty sure that he spotted Luffy in the distance, doing the same thing as himself, but blinked when the dinosaur his captain sat upon slipped him up and swallowed him whole.

...Eh, he'd be fine.

Going back to what he was doing, Dante missed the sight of Luffy being freed from his fleshy prison via a giant decapitation of the dinosaur that had swallowed him, but that was neither here nor there.

His gaze fell upon one of what Dante had initially assumed to be mountain ranges, but with his current vantage point he realized that it was in fact the skull of a massive creature. Judging from the sheer size of it, he could only assume it to be the remnants of a Sea King.

And it was there, at the top of it where he would find the source of the infernal residue that he had sensed earlier. Kicking off Dante all but tore through the air. A few air hikes later and Dante had reached his destination, landing on top of the ancient skull with a heavy crash.

Dusting off his coat, the devil hunter scanned the area for any kind of demonic activity that he entrance may have awoken. After a few moments of absolutely nothing, he strode forward. The closer he drew to the center of the skull, the stronger the residue grew.

Upon reaching the epicenter, Dante found the source of the demonic presence. There, at the center of the skull, was a hole over twenty meters in diameter. No doubt this was the source of its death.

Approaching the edge, Dante actually staggered back when he was hit by the miasma that hung within. The tell tale sign that a demon of titanic power once stood here.

"Smells like hot garbage." Fanning himself, Dante explored further.

Unfortunately he wasn't the first to discover this. Lying near the edge a few meters away, was the dried out husk of some poor bastard that had climbed up here. Only for their very soul to be sucked out from them, leaving behind the body to wither away.

"Damn." If it wasn't for his heritage and his ludicrous levels of vitality, Dante was certain that he would be going through a similar experience right about now. But what demon did this?

For taint like this to be left behind, they would have to be on the level of Mundus and Argosax. But that shouldn't be possible. Both had been powerful rulers of the Demon World. But as much as he wanted to deny that a demon of that caliber was loose upon this dimension, the evidence was right there in front of him.

The only question was...where was it?

Kneeling down, Dante ran his hand along the holes edge, finding it to be covered in a thick layer of soot.

"Someone likes to play with fire." Before Dante could investigate further, the all too familiar sound of claws digging into bone reached his ears. Leaping backwards, Dante felt a rush of air as a blade missed his neck by mere centimeters.

Landing on his feet, Dante looked up to see nothing there. Rubbing his chin, he moved to step forward, but back peddled as something red rushed past him. Keeping his composure, Dante's hand lashed out behind him.

The demon that had tried to ambush him jumped back to a safe distance, letting out a low hiss when it saw that he had merely pointed a finger gun at it.

"Ha-ha," Dante mimed shooting it and grabbed Rebellion. The demon was reptilian in nature with red highlights and stooding several feet taller than Dante. "Haven't fought one of you in a while."

The Fury brought one arm forward, a red blade spawning out from its forearm. It let loose a low growl. That must have been the signal as several Riots, the lesser evolutions of its kind, began crawling out from the hole.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the big boss is would you?" Twirling his most trusted weapon, Dante idly side stepped a lunge from one of the surrounding Riots, decapitating the demon as it passed. "Cause it would be great if you could just tell me. Can't have something that powerful just walking around."

His answer came in the form of all the demons rushing him. Though, in true Dante fashion, the devil hunter wasn't worried in the slightest. But it looked like he would be tracking the big baddy down the hard way.

But just as shit was about to go down, the entire skull began to shake. The demons and devil hunter all paused as the ground tilted, as if something was lifting the whole damn thing, before it was suddenly dropped, landing with a thunderous crash that shook the very island to its foundation.

'The hell was that?' thought Dante. Hearing a growl, the hunter looked to see that the Riots were backing down, with the leader of the pack slowly backing to the edge and towards the forest.

"Oh, no you don't!" Quicker than the eye could track, Dante lunged at the Fury, the ancient skull fragmenting from the sheer force that he exerted. But he wasn't fast enough, as the Fury used raw demonic power to perform a space-time jump, allowing it to phase right through Rebellion's blade and retreat down the skull and into the forest.

"Tch, Damn it," Dante spared a glance towards the hole, mentally weighing his options, but decided that the rouge lizards were the more immediate threat. He couldn't allow them to roam free any longer than they already had. If they managed to reach the other members of the crew...

The Riots, while boasting incredible strength and speed, someone of Luffy, Zoro and Sanji's caliber would be able to make short work of them. But if that Fury got to them.

No.

Dante banished those thoughts from his mind. He wouldn't allow any demon to harm a single hair one those kids' heads.

* * *

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It could sense Him.

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Deep within the heart of the one dormant volcano on Little Garden, a single ember lingered.

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.

That ember grew to a raging inferno as an ancient being of fire and destruction awakened from its slumber.

" **The blood of the traitor...I can smell him."**

With but a mere thought the ground beneath its feet cracked, allowing lava to flow into the chamber, slowly filling it.

But the awakened demon did not flinch at the sweltering heat. For it was fire incarnate.

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" **SPARDA!"**

* * *

Zoro wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation he currently found himself in. One moment he was dragging along the body of some giant lizard that he had cut down and trying to find his way back to the ship.

Then the next thing he knew, his arms and legs were bound in candle wax stronger than stone and dragged into a clearing by some trench coat wearing guy, where Zoro found Nami and Vivi in similar circumstances.

Now all three of them were ankle deep in hardened wax, stuck to some strange candle contraption that was slowly covering them in flakes of wax that would eventually leave them as nothing more than statues. All while some guy that had his hair styled into the shape of a 3 stroked his own ego.

Well if this was where he was to die, at least it would be in a cool pose.

...Ah who was he kidding. He didn't want to die to these Baroque Works losers.

"Hey, Nami, Vivi. You two get ready. I'm gonna get us out of here."

Nami, having had most of her body covered in wax barely managed to look over in his direction. "And how do you plan to do that?"

"Simple." The sound of swords being drawn reached her ears. "I'm gonna cut off my legs."

"W-wait! Zoro, think about this for a second!"

"Don't have that kind of time."

"How do you plan on fighting without legs!?"

"...I'll figure something out."

"Hahahahahaha." Brogy, one of the island resident giants that Naim and Usopp had befriended, laughed at Zoro's declaration despite having his hands and feet impaled to the ground. "You are a brave young man! Just when I was about to admit defeat, you go and make a statement like that."

"Very well. I will fight alongside you! I must avenge mine and Dorry's honor!"

Zoro poised his swords to cut at his feet and grinned. "Good." Before anyone could say otherwise, he went for it. There was the sound of blade cutting through flesh and spurts of blood.

Zoro had managed to cut midway through his legs when two things happened in quick succession.

The first being Luffy, Usopp and the princess' duck came rocketing through the clearing with a pack of strange lizards on their tail.

The second was much more...confusing.

There was a flash of red, followed by sparks and the sound of clashing blades. Even with his perceptive eyes, the swordsman could only catch glimpses of the two red figures zipping about the clearing.

There was another flash and the beasts that had been chasing Luffy and Usopp were reduced to bloody chunks. There was no fanfare of any sort, they were simply dead. Those unused to such carnage were unable to hold onto their stomachs and quickly unloaded their contents.

A select few were unperturbed by the gore, those being main fighters of the Straw Hats and the older Baroque agents.

"Sorry about this kiddo," Dante suddenly appeared behind the young girl, the one that Mr. 3 had called Miss Goldenweek, and tied a blindfold over her eyes. "But everything else that happens here is rated R and unsuitable for child viewing."

Grabbing her by the shoulders, the two seemed to teleport over to the trapped giant where Dante deposited the kid. "Mind looking after the little one? Thanks!"

And he was gone again.

"What the he-" Mr. 3 was interrupted when Dante appeared once again, only now locked in a blade struggle with a giant, bipedal lizard with blades coming out of its arms.

The two suddenly disappeared in a burst of speed. The sounds of combat echoed throughout the clearing, leaving gouges in the ground and surrounding trees.

It was the most intense battle that Zoro and the others had never witnessed.

* * *

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.

.

'This Fury is something else.' Never before had Dante faced a lower demon of this caliber. The closest experience he had was when he fought a pack of Blitz demons. But it had been just that, a pack.

This one Fury dwarfed them in every aspect. Strength, speed, it out stripped them all. Just what the hell had this demon feasted on to gain such power?

Regardless of the hows, it needed to be put down.

Parrying its claws, Dante stunned it with a boot to the head and pulled out his pistols. Ebony and Ivory leapt into his hands as he unleashed a storm of demonic infused lead. Due to his previous attack, the Fury was unable to properly guard itself, allowing the bullets to strike true.

But it was far from finished.

Enraged by the damage it had sustained and the lack of blood it had drawn from its sworn foe, the Fury was enveloped in a purple hue, earning a slight widening of the eyes from Dante.

The damn thing had just activated a pseudo devil trigger.

The bullets buried in its flesh were forced back out before healing over. Reinvigorated by its transformation, the Fury went on the offensive, unleashing a flurry of slashes that turned everything around it to shreds.

To those watching from the sidelines, it appeared to be nothing more than brief sparks followed by random slashes appearing around the clearing. But little did they know just how many times they had been saved by the Son of Sparda's efforts.

He wouldn't allow a demon to claim another life while in his presence. Even those of his enemies.

Quickly pouring demonic power into his sword Dante launched a drive at the demon, forcing the Fury to go intangible or be split in two. With the brief lapse in combat he was able to close the distance between the two with a clever use of trickster, appearing right behind it and wrapping his arms around its waist.

Taking a page from his nephew, Dante performed a textbook suplex, burying the demon right into the ground. Before it could begin to free itself, Dante raised his sword and swung down. There was a moment where the entire clearing was void of sound.

The reprieve was short lived as the Fury erupted into a geyser of blood. Though thankfully for those watching, the remains of all the demons didn't stick around and began to dissolve into little more than flakes of ash blown into the wind.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" True to his nature, Luffy ignored all the crazy shit that just went down and rushed on up to Dante with stars in his eyes. "How'd you do that? What were those lizards? Teach me!"

"As many questions as I have about what we just saw, can you please get us out of this!" Nami had just about had enough with today. Chased by dinosaurs. Captured by their enemies, and now this.

She just wanted to go back to the ship and cry in her room.

The Baroque Works agents weren't fairing much better. None of them had been able to make sense of the fight that had just gone down. It was just too fast.

All of them had recognized the man as Red Coat Dante. But he was only worth $25,000,000. How was it that he was so fast!? It just didn't make sense.

"Captain." With a single swipe, Dante cleansed Rebellion of any and all traces of blood. "I'd hate to give you orders, but can you grab everyone and get back to the ship. Things are about to get much more dangerous."

He turned his gaze to the gathered agents, "That includes you guys as well."

"W-who are you to give us orders!?" Fresh wax began to gather on Mr. 3's arms. "I won't stand here and be made little of by a brute such as yourself." His coworkers, sans Miss Goldenweek as she was still seated by Brogy, prepared for the upcoming fight.

"Sorry, but I could care less about what you think." Mr. 3, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine froze. Dante was no longer on the opposite end of the clearing, but now stood right behind them, his back to them and sword resting on his shoulder.

"I've got bigger fish to fry...or did you fail to notice? The air's gotten much hotter."

Now that he brought it up, everyone was now aware of how much hotter the air was. Just breathing caused their throats to instantly dry up. It wasn't just the air either. The ground beneath them seemed to be heating up as well.

Nami, Vivi and Zoro, much to their relief, could feel the wax that had been encasing them quickly melting. Within moments the three were free from their waxy prison. Though Zoro now had to worry about getting his ankles tended to before he could bleed out.

" **I know you're here."**

The forest in the direction that Dante was facing was enveloped in a sea of flames, the heat wave generated from it was powerful enough to launch all but the devil hunter flying back. Even the giants Dorry and Brogy weren't spared.

" **You, who carry the accursed blood of a traitor."**

From the flames, _it_ stepped forth. Towering over even the giants, the demon that had slept for centuries stared down at the only one that had managed to hold their ground.

" **Even with dimensions separating us, I heard the dying cries of my former master Argosax echo within the depth of my being. A death that was destined to happen by my hands."**

" **A death that you robbed from me. Don't bother denying it, though the blood has long since washed away, I can smell it on your blade, the demonic taint laying within its steel."**

As if it were possible, the heat became even more unbearable as the demon let its anger be known.

" **But I, the mighty Balrog, am nothing if not honorable."**

The flames receded to more manageable levels. Though the details of Balrog's form were still hidden from view, Dante could see that the ancient devil was humanoid in shape.

" **Prove to be a worthy foe, and I will spare the rest. You'll find my terms more than generous."**

Rather than answer, Dante twirled his sword. The gust of wind created from such a simple action proved powerful enough to extinguish the flames closest to his crewmates, sparing them from the worst of the sweltering heat.

"You demons sure love to talk. Must be genetic or something." Holding Rebellion in one hand he beckoned the devil with the other.

"Lets rock!"

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 **-End-**

 **Zrocker119:** **And this is the point in where things begin to deviate...at a little...for now. Shit goes down next chapter, so until I have it out please review! Till next time!**


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